Mysuru: Renowned sculptor Arun Yogiraj has completed a Krishna Shila (black stone) statue of former chief minister Devaraj Urs, installed at the DC Office complex in Siddhartha Nagar Thursday.The sculptor said it took six months to complete the work. The statue is now ready for unveiling.An earlier statue installed and unveiled by then chief minister Siddaramaiah in Nov 2025 was ordered to be replaced following complaints that it did not resemble Urs.The new statue will be unveiled later by dignitaries, officials said.“Urs made an invaluable contribution to the state. He served Karnataka for a long time as chief minister. I was also pained by the fact that there was no statue of Urs in Mysuru. Nirmiti Kendra gave me this responsibility,” Arun said.“Immediately after the unveiling of the statue last time, I was approached for the new statue work,” he recalled.“It is difficult to sculpt statues of well-known personalities. We need to study them extensively. In foreign countries, statues are sculpted while the personalities are still alive. It is easier to sculpt when a person is alive. We sculpted this statue after conducting extensive studies,” he said.
