Mysuru: An argument erupted between the police department and elephant caretakers of theforest department before the Jamboo Savari, causing a delay in bringing the ‘nishaane’ elephant Arjuna to lead the procession.
It is alleged that the police personnel dragged the forest department personnel during a puja to the elephants on Tuesday morning.
This led to a wordy duel between the police and forest department employees.
The police personnel had stopped the forest department vehicles from entering the palace in the morning and were reluctant to allow the mahouts in.
This triggered an argument.At one point, the mahouts threatened to leave, saying, “You conduct the Dasara yourself”.
A video of the skirmish was circulated on social media. The mahouts complained that the police personnel harassed them every year during Dasara, while allowing them to enter the palace, despite having official pass and even stop the forest department vehicles.
“You fix the howdah yourself. We will leave”, they said and threatened to set the elephants on them. However, the officials intervened and brought the situation under control.
Arjuna joined the procession only after a couple of troupes started moving. He was not brought near the dais to salute the dignitaries with his trunk as per practice.
(Published 24 October 2023, 21:36 IST)