Thousands bid tearful adieu to Mahadeva Prasad

The last rites of the late minister H S Mahadeva Prasad were held at the Baganpur coconut nursery here, with state honours on Wednesday. Prasad’s son H M Ganesh Prasad performed the rituals as per Lingayat tradition under the guidance of Sadananda Swami of Madapattana Virakta Mutt. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Home Minister G Parameshwara and other Cabinet ministers were present.

Prasad was found dead after suffering a massive cardiac arrest at a resort in Chikkamagaluru on Tuesday morning. The mortal remains were shifted to his ancestral village on Tuesday night, after keeping them for public viewing in Mysuru. The people bid an emotional adieu to the departed soul. Wrapped in the tri-colour, Prasad’s body was taken in a special ambulance from Mysuru to Gundlupet. The body was kept for public viewing at D Devaraj Urs Ground in Gundlupet (Chamarajanagar district), before it was shifted to Halahalli on Tuesday night.

Thousands of people paid their last respects to the departed soul at a ground at Halahalli from 6 am to 1.15 pm. The body was shifted to the nursery at 1.20 pm. Tight security was in place to manage the crowd. Police forces from Hassan, Chamarajanagar and other places were deputed to Halahalli.

Ministers Priyank Kharge, U T Khader, H C Mahadevappa, Ramesh Kumar, Umashree, R Roshan Baig, Tanveer Sait, H K Patil, Pramod Madhwaraj, B Ramanath Rai, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, MPs Pratap Simha, R Dhruvanarayan and Shobha Karandlaje, MLAs H D Revanna, K Venkatesh, Vasu, H P Manjunath, MLC R Dharmasena, BJP state unit president B S Yeddyurappa, former minister V Srinivas Prasad and others paid their last respects to Mahadeva Prasad.