PM Modi on two-day visit to Karnataka from today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the State for two days from Thursday and has programmes lined up in Tumakuru and Bengaluru.

He will visit Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru on Thursday to pay his respects to Shivakumara Swami, who passed away last year, and inaugurate a museum in memory of the departed seer. This is the first time he will be visiting the mutt after the seer’s death. Mr. Modi had come under criticism for not attending the last rites of the seer and for not awarding him the Bharat Ratna posthumously. Siddalinga Swami, the present seer of the mutt, has appealed to devotees not to embarrass the Prime Minister during his visit by demanding the highest civilian award for the late seer.

Later in the day, he will preside over a national convention of farmers at Tumakuru, where he will release the fourth instalment of subsidy to farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana. The convention, to be attended by Agriculture Ministers of 12 States, will also see the Prime Minister present the Krishi Karman Awards. Karnataka has bagged the third place this year and Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who also holds charge of agriculture, will receive the award.