Want your help for Dasara: Minister to Maharani Pramoda Devi

Mysore: A week after Maharani Pramoda Devi’s tearful appeal to the state government to resolve the Mysore Palace dispute, district-in-charge minister, V. Sreenivas Prasad met her at the palace on Saturday to seek her cooperation in holding the Mysore Dasara.

While the Maharani readily gave her support for the festival, its unclear whether the state government will follow this up with a dialogue with the royal family to resolve the decades’-old palace dispute. After his 30-minute meeting with Ms Pramoda Devi, Mr. Prasad said it was a courtesy call.

“As a government representative, I sought her cooperation in conducting the Mysore Dasara on a grand scale. I will meet her again with an official Dasara invite,” he told reporters, adding that the Maharani did not raise the palace dispute or the issue of appointing a successor to her late husband, the last scion of the Mysore royal family, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar.  

While nothing significant may have come out of the meeting, it was the first to be held by a cabinet minister with the Maharani after the passing away of Wadiyar in December last year. AICC vice-president, Rahul Gandhi had met Ms. Pramoda Devi at the Bengaluru Palace before the Lok Sabha elections and heard her out on the property disputes.

Palace secretary, S. Lakshminarayana  when  contacted, said Ms Pramoda Devi had agreed to cooperate with the holding of the Dasara during the meeting with the minister. “We hope the state government will answer the Maharani’s concerns at least at the next meeting,” he added.