Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was visiting poll-bound Karnataka, inaugurated three statues in the state. On March 6, Chief Minister Bommai inaugurated a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in Belagavi. Over the last few weeks, the ruling BJP in Karnataka has been on a statue inauguration spree, hoping to appease various caste groups ahead of the Assembly polls. Since November 2022, over 16 statues have either been already inaugurated or announced to be built.
On March 26, Amit Shah inaugurated a statue of Basavanna, the 12th-century poet and social reformer in front of the state secretariat Vidhana Soudha. He also inaugurated a statue of Kempe Gowda, popularly credited with developing Bengaluru. The BJP hoped to woo both Lingayats and Vokkaligas with this move. Later in the day, he travelled to Bidar in the Kalyana Karnataka region and inaugurated a statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. During his address, Shah said that Vallabhai Patel was responsible for freeing the district from the Nizams of Hyderabad and that the Congress never gave him credit for it.
In November 2022, Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated a 108-feet statue of Kempe Gowda in Bengaluru.
CM Bommai has been trotting across the state, inaugurating statues in a hurry, with just days remaining for the election to be announced and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), which could prevent him from inaugurating new projects, to kick in. In Belagavi, a 36-feet statue of Shivaji was inaugurated by CM Bommai. Belagavi and its surroundings have a sizable population who are followers of the Maratha ruler.
In Udupi, a 33-feet statue of Parushurama was inaugurated on top of the Umaikal hill in Udupi district. In Mangaluru, a 22-feet statue of freedom fighter Kedambadi Ramiah was inaugurated. A 12-feet statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a statue of veteran Kannada actor Rajkumar, and Goddess Bhuvaneshwari, often considered the mother of the state, were inaugurated across Bengaluru.
The Chamarajanagar district in south Karnataka got a 108-feet statue of Male Mahadeshwara Swamy. A 65-feet statue of Akka Mahadevi, a social reformer who is prominent among Lingayats, was built in Shivamogga. CM Bommai has also announced statues of Subhash Chandra Bose and Sangolli Rayanna to be built in government colleges across the state.
More statues of Basavanna, Kittur Rani Chennamma (former ruler of Kittur, a Lingayat), freedom fighter Belavadi Mallamma, Queen Channabhairavi (also considered a freedom fighter), Rani Abbakka, and several others are reportedly in the pipeline.