BENGALURU: Uncertainty ends finally over Bengaluru hosting the aero show next year. Though the Ministry of Defence had never announced its plans to change the venue, it had kept the option open stating that many states are willing to host the event and a decision will be taken at an appropriate time.
“After we raised our voices aggressively, good sense dawned on the Union government,” KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said after the Centre announced that Aero India 2019 will be held in Bengaluru from February 20 to 24. “Thanks to the efforts of various organisations and people, the Centre changed its decision. Aero India is a big brand known across the world. Undermining a well-established event would have been self-defeating for India,” the state Congress chief said.
After The New Indian Express first reported the possibility of the event being moved out of Bengaluru to an Air Force base in Uttar Pradesh, experts had slammed the move, calling it a disaster for Indian aerospace and the defence industry, while students in the city had launched a signature campaign urging the Centre to continue the event in Bengaluru.
“It took more than a month for the Government of India to take a decision on AeroIndia 2019. Thanks to all of you who supported the cause of Bengaluru and helped reiterate our position as India’s No 1 aerospace destination,” Congress leader Nivedith Alva tweeted.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who had taken up the issue with the Defence Minister, welcomed the decision to hold the event in Bengaluru. “The central government confirmed today that Aero India 2019 will be held in Bengaluru. There was concern regarding speculations that the biennial air show could be moved out of Bengaluru,” the CM said.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said the state government should extend its full cooperation to make the event a grand success as they have been doing since 1996. The BJP, however, accused the Congress leaders of “unnecessarily” creating confusion and even demanded an apology from them. BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa, Union Ministers Ananth Kumar and D V Sadananda Gowda had urged the Defence Minister not to shift the show from Bengaluru.
“The professional naysayers as usual got it wrong,” Ananth Kumar said. Yeddyurappa blamed the Congress leaders of deliberately spreading “false information” about the Prime Minister and Defence Minister shifting the show, and demanded that they apologise to both of them.