HAVERI: The next Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana will be held in Mandya, with Ballari district of Kalyana Karnataka losing the race by a whisker.
The Executive Committee of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) took a decision on this at its meeting on Sunday, with KSP president Mahesh Joshi announcing the next venue for the annual Kannada literary meet
Actually, the committee met on Saturday night itself, but failed to arrive at a consensus on where the next meet should be held, since several district units of the KSP claimed their right to organise the Sammelana. As the meeting witnessed a verbal spat between committee members over the issue, the decision was deferred to Sunday.
Also, it is learnt that Joshi’s stand on announcing the next venue, after visiting the districts which have evinced interest and taking stock of the infrastructure facilities there, earned the wrath of committee members. The latter refused to accept Joshi’s stand and asked him not to set a new tradition.
On Sunday, the KSP chose to vote on the issue as it again failed to come to a general agreement. The important contenders were Mandya, Ballari, Chikkaballapur, and Chikkamagaluru. As the voting took place, Mandya received support of 17 members and Ballari lost the race by just one vote. Later, Joshi announced that the majority of members have come in support of Mandya to hold the 87th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana.