Chamarajanagar: The Federation of District Artistes staged a protest rally in Chamarajanagar, urging the Government to continue the tradition of celebrating Chamarajanagar Dasara this year as well. The annual festival, known for its cultural grandeur, has been observed uninterrupted for the past 13 years.

On Monday, folk artistes, Federation members and leaders of various organisations assembled in front of Sri Chamarajeshwara Swamy Temple before marching in a rally to Bhuvaneshwari Circle, where they formed a human chain. The protest route passed through B. Rachaiah Double Road and culminated at the District Administration Bhavan.

The protesters raised slogans against the State Government, demanding a reversal of the decision to cancel this year’s Dasara celebrations. They pointed out that Chamarajanagar, which has a rich tradition of folk art and is home to thousands of artistes, deserves to have the festival conducted with due honour.

They recalled that it was Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who, during his first tenure in 2013, had initiated the Chamarajanagar Dasara. Ironically, it is now under his second term that the event is being called off, causing disappointment among artistes and locals alike.

District Minister K. Venkatesh, who arrived at the protest site, accepted a memorandum from the demonstrators and assured them that he would take up the matter with the CM. Following this assurance, the protest was withdrawn.

Artistes Somashekar Bisalwadi, Narasimha Murthy, Kale Nataraj, Shivashankar, Jayakumar, Siddu, Chitra Biligiri, Venkataramana Swamy, Shivanna, Ramanna, Honnamma, Chinnamma, Tulasamma, Praveen, Ghatam Krishna, Gururaju and several others took part in the protest.