Throughout year Police Band at Palace from Jan. 1, 2022: Minister Somashekar

Mysuru: The Flower Show, Dolls Show and cultural programmes that were inaugurated at Mysore Palace last evening brought back memories of the Mysore Winter Festival that was held in city for the first time in 2017, only to be cancelled later.

The Flower Show is being held after a gap of two years and true to its beauty, hundreds of tourists flocked the Palace premises to see the tastefully decorated campus. The show was inaugurated by Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar.

Though the show was organised amidst the threat of the Omicron variant of the Novel Coronavirus, strict protocols were followed and only those who have taken the two doses of vaccines were allowed entry.

Hundreds of flower varieties including Roses, Orchids, Chrysanthemum, Gerbera, Lilium, Spray Chrysanthemum, Lilies, Dahlia, Marigold, Blue Daisy, cut flowers from Ooty and a wide variety of Bonsais are on display.

The floral replica of Sri Ram Mandir at Ayodhya is a major attraction and workers have readied it in 12 days. Idols of Lord Ram, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman have been kept inside the replica. Also, floral idols of Goddess Sri Chamundeshwari, a Christmas Tree model, statue of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, floral replica of a queen in palanquin, replica of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat who died in a chopper crash at Coonoor in Tamil Nadu recently and late actor Puneeth Rajkumar are on display.

These apart, floral replicas of Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman, who downed a Pakistan jet during an aerial combat in February 2019 at the Line of Control (LoC) and a replica of Olympic Gold Medal Hero Neeraj Chopra are attracting crowds.

Police band performance

Inaugurating the Flower Show, Minister Somashekar announced that the Police Band would perform in the Mysore Palace premises throughout the year from Jan. 1, 2022. The band show will be held from 6.30 pm.

The Minister recalled the contribution of the Wadiyars of Mysuru to the overall development of the region and said that a photo exhibition depicting their works was attention-grabbing. The construction of the KRS Dam across the Cauvery entailed the members of the royal family to pledge their personal gold and diamonds and raise loans which has benefited not only lakhs of farmers but has ensured drinking water to millions of people, he said.

As part of the cultural programme, ‘Geetha Namana’ was offered to late actor Puneeth Rajkumar by playback singer Vijay Prakash and troupe.

This evening, there will be a music programme by playback singers Ajay Warier, Sriharsha, Vyasraj, Ankita Kundu, Sunitha Jogi and Divya Ramachandra.

MLA Nagendra, Mayor Sunanda Palanetra, Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Chairman H.V. Rajeev, Chairmen of various Boards and Corporations — N.V. Phaneesh, M. Appanna, Hemanth Kumar Gowda, L.R. Mahadevaswamy — Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr. Bagadi Gautham, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. K.H. Prasad, Superintendent of Police (SP) R. Chethan, Palace Board Deputy Director T.S. Subramanya and others were present.