SHINOGA: Acting and staging drama were passions of former deputy chief minister and Congress leader M P Prakash. Despite his busy schedule as a public figure, he was actively associated with theatre.
One finds hard to believe that MP Prakash had even acted in a drama staged at Shimoga on the day of Shivaratri festival. In 1999, when Prakash was a minister in the J H Patel government, a citybased drama troupe, comprising lecturers and officials, had organised a play at Gopala in Shimoga. The title of the drama was 'Rajasuya Yaaga'. Despite his busy schedule, the late minister had then come to Shimoga to act in the drama.
Columnist B Chandre Gowda told Express: "Though his wife requested him not to leave the home on the day of festival, he visited Shimoga and rehearsed for the drama with other artists."
Prakash, who was then the rural development minister, had also raised the demand of providing financial assistance to the theatre groups in the assembly session, Gowda recalled, adding that, because of his efforts, the government had announced a financial assistance of `5,000 for the mythological dramas, he added.