By IANS,
Bangalore : Hundreds of die-hard supporters of jailed former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Sunday invoked gods, broke coconuts and offered prayers for his speedy recovery from sudden illness and early release in the graft cases related to land scams.
At Bookanekare hamlet in Mandya district, about 100 km from Bangalore, where 68-year-old Yeddyurappa was born, special prayers were offered at the Vigneshwara temple and fire rituals (homa) were conducted at his ancestral home to the chanting of hymns by family priests.
“Village folk, including relatives broke 108 coconuts as per the Hindu custom at the temple and worshipped gods to bless Yeddyurappa with good health and early release from jail and court cases,” a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman told IANS.
The Lokayukta special court Saturday remanded Yeddyurappa to seven day’s judicial custody in two graft cases related to de-notification (freeing from government control) of lands around Bangalore during his tenure as the BJP’s first chief minister in south India from May 2008 to July 31, 2011.
The graft cases were filed by two city advocates Sirajin Basha and N.K. Balraj after Governor H.R. Bhardwaj in January sanctioned prosecution of Yeddyurappa and 13 others, including his two sons, son-in-law, a former state minister Krishnaiah Setty and BJP lawmaker Hemchandra Sagar.
Similar prayers and rituals were held by hundreds of party cadres and activists of right-wing Hindu groups in Yeddyurappa’s home district Shimoga, about 300 km from here.
“Our leader will come out free from the graft cases as he has been falsely implicated. He has done so much for the party and people across the state, especially Shimoga and his assembly constituency (Shikaripura) in the district,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, doctors at the state-run Jayadeva hospital, where Yeddyurappa was shifted in the early hours after he fell suddenly ill in the Parpanna Agrahara jail on the outskirts of the city, permitted him to take home-cooked food with the consent of the prison authorities as he is in judicial custody.
As Yeddyurappa is under observation for the next 48 hours in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU), except his two sons B.S. Vijayendra and B.S. Raghavandra, others were not allowed entry. Raghavendra is BJP Lok Sabha member from Shimoga.
In a related development, city police deployed additional personnel in and around the hospital to regulate the entry of people and avoid party supporters from crowding the place.