HAVERI: A core committee meeting of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) held at Motebennur village in Byadgi taluk on Sunday failed to take a decision on the venue of the 81st Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana.
The meeting was chaired by KSP state president Pundalika Halambi. While the KSP has decided to hold the Sammelana in Haveri district, there is stiff competition between two groups to hold it in Haveri or Ranebennur.
The core committee meeting convened to resolve the impasse was like a general body meeting of a civic body witnessing uproarious scenes and chaos.
Halambi was forced to defer the meeting twice before ending it abruptly without deciding on the venue. Litterateurs and enthusiasts tried to storm the dais making it impossible to continue the proceedings.
The trouble started during the introductory speech of Halambi. He said the KSP had decided during the Madikeri Sammelana to hold the next Sammelana at Ranebennur in Haveri district.
Taking exception to the statement, many writers and enthusiasts rushed to the dais. Perturbed by this unruly behaviour, Halambi deferred the meet for half-an-hour.
When the meet resumed amid tight police security, he sought cooperation from all quarters to hold the meet successfully in the district. To conduct the literary meet, KSP needs `6 crore and the state government is expected to give `2 crore, he said.
He stressed the need to mobilise funds and make arrangements for accommodation and food for delegates, invitees and literary enthusiasts.
Around 5 to 6 lakh people expected to take part in the literary meet to be held in February 2015.
When Halambi invited writers of the district and others to express their views, it was a smooth affair until former MLA B C Patil, former KSP district president Maruthi Shidlapur and former secretary Nagraj Dymankoppa spoke.
Ruckus started again when some others tried to express their views. This forced Halambi to defer the meeting again.
Kannada Sahitya Parishat district president G B Masanagi, former state speaker B G Banakar, writer and former minister B T Lalita Nayak, writers Korgal Virupakashappa, Satish Kulkarni, Gangadhar Nandi, KSP taluk presidents and over a 1,000 literary enthusiasts attended the meet.