BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar were among the key guests who attended the wedding eve function of the daughter of mining baron and former Karnataka Minister G. Janardhan Reddy at the Palace Ground on Tuesday.
‘No party diktat’This gains significance amid speculation that there was an “informal direction” by the party to its leaders not to attend the wedding. The reasoning was that it would cause embarrassment to the party, coming as it does while people are queueing up for currency after demonetisation by the Centre. However, sources in the State party unit said the Central leadership had “left it to the discretion” of the leaders. There is “no diktat from the party,” they clarified.
With the main ceremony of the multi-crore wedding — held in a setting that reconstructs the “grandeur of Vijayanagar empire” — scheduled for Wednesday, there is now much curiosity on who will and who will not attend the wedding. Congress sources claimed that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G. Parameshwara will not attend the wedding, while former Minister M.H. Ambareesh and actor Yash attended the function on Tuesday.
3000 securitymenThe police said they had not made special security or traffic arrangements for the wedding since it was a private ceremony. The Reddy family sources said around 3,000 private security people were in place. They claimed that many “senior political leaders” would attend the main event on Wednesday.
Apart from regular traffic police, there would be no additional personnel to manage the traffic, a senior police official said.
