Bengaluru: I had turned down a decision of the University of Mysore (UoM) to confer doctorate to me,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah while replying to a query on a proposal of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) to christen an unnamed road from Venkataramana Swamy Temple in Vani Vilas Mohalla (VV Mohalla) to a junction in Metagalli after him. Siddaramaiah belongs to Siddaramanahundi in Mysuru taluk.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, the Chief Minister said “I turned down the doctorate citing that I do not deserve it.” On the MCC’s proposal, Siddaramaiah said he never wished that a road be named after him in his political career spanning 40 years nor had recommended naming a road after his name.
On the row over the proposal, the Chief Minister said “If the road name already exists, then, there is no need to rename it.”
When his attention was drawn to naming a stretch of 2-km road unnamed from Venkataramana Swamy Temple in Vani Vilas Mohalla to a junction in Metagalli after him, Siddaramaiah said “I am unaware of it. None (leaders or officials) have discussed the matter with me.”
It may be recalled here that a proposal from Mysore City Corporation to name a road stretch from Venkataramana Swamy Temple in V.V. Mohalla to a junction in Metagalli as “Siddaramaiah Arogya Marga” on December 22 previous year drew criticism from a section of the society.
Congress MLA representing Chamaraja Assembly seat in Mysuru city Harish Gowda asserted that the proposal to name a road after Siddaramaiah will be a reality.
Mysore City Corporation Commissioner Ashaad Ur Rahman Shariff stated no documents pointed to prove that the road from Venkataramana Swamy Temple to Metagalli junction had been christened officially.
Later, scion of erstwhile Mysore royal family and Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member representing Mysuru-Kodagu seat Yaduveer Kri
