The list of Kannada Rajyotsava awardees will be announced on Wednesday.
This was decided at a meeting in which Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Kannada and Culture Minister Govind Karjol and other senior officials were present.
There were rumours that the list of awardees may go beyond 50 following pressures from various quarters on the government. However, today’s meeting resolved to keep the number to 50 only.
Confirming this to Express, Principal Secretary of Department of Kannada and Culture B Basavaraj said that the list of final awardees has been shortlisted. The list of awardees will be announced by Shettar or Karjol on October 31.
Claiming that everything has been done transparently, Basavaraju said, “There was no lobby to the best of my knowledge. But there might have been invisible lobby.”
The names of all awardees will be kept secret. However, highly placed sources said that the final list is ready and the government officials have started informing the winners to come to Bangalore on November 1, to receive the awards.