Celebration to mark 60 years of the Karnataka Assembly were today held in Bangalore's Vidhana Soudha.
Former MLAs Ambadas Rao, U M Madappa, T G Thimmegowda, Mulka Govindareddy and Basanthrao Patil, who were members of the first Mysore State Assembly in 1952, were felicitated to mark the occasion.
One day ahead of the celebrations, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda declared open an exhibition displaying rare photos of the construction of Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, visit by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and address to the House by Raj Pramukh Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar.
Former chief ministers M Veerappa Moily, N Dharam Singh, H D Kumaraswamy and B S Yeddyurappa were present at the event.
Governor H R Bhardwaj inaugurated the event and former Chief Justice of Supreme Court M N Venkatachalaiah addressed the gathering.
The first assembly session was held on June 18th, 1952, in what is now the High Court building. Four years later, the sessions were moved to the Vidhana Soudha.
The Karnataka Assembly has seen highs and also many lows over the years. There have been helmets worn by MLAs, suitcases carried in, debates that crossed the limit - and many of the older legislators were certainly nostalgic over what they said was a much higher level of debate in earlier years.