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Slogans, firecrackers: Supporters give grand welcome to Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru burst into celebrations as supporters came out on streets shouting slogans, lined up in streets to welcome Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar.
After five days of a tense impasse, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar returned to Bengaluru as chief minister and deputy chief minister designate respectively, and supporters finally seemed to exhale, lining the streets in welcome, shouting slogans, and setting off firecrackers in celebratory mood.
Both leaders that have been in the middle of hectic parleys in Delhi landed at the HAL airport on the same aircraft, with supporters lining the streets till the Congress state headquarters on Queen’s Road. All along the road, Congress festoons hung from every available inch of space, with posters and massive cutouts adorning the roads. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office glistened with celebratory lights, with party workers shouting slogans for both. “”Mundina mukhya mantri Siddaramaiahge jai, DK Shivakumarge jai (All hail the next chief minister Siddaramaiah, All hail DK Shivakumar)”, they chanted, even as the police personnel attempted to control both traffic and the raucous crowds.
Among those who were at the Congress office were representatives of the SC/ST contractors association, who had leveled charges of corruption against the Basavraj Bommai led BJP government, giving rise to the “40% sarkaara” tag that became one of the motifs of the Congress campaign.
At Siddaramaiah’s native village of Siddaramanahundi, 20 kilometres from the Mysuru, celebrations began early on Thursday, after news filtered in that their favourite son would indeed become Chief Minister of Karnataka for the second time. Villagers had begun celebrations earlier in the week too, but the atmosphere had grown muted on Tuesday and Wednesday with no clear announcement emerging. “Everyone was saying that he will become the Chief Minister. Today, he has become one and everyone is happy. His appointment will help the poor in the state. All the guarantees that the Congress has promised in the manifesto including 10 kilograms of rice and 200 units of electricity are geared towards that goal,” Siddaramaiah’s brother Siddegowda said.
Siddaramaiah’s overjoyed nephew Raghu also said that the Congress must now ensure that the poll promises made must be fulfilled. “He should make sure that all the five guarantees reach the people of the state. More importantly, I’d like to thank the people of Varuna for their unparalleled support. As the chief minister, I hope he does good work for the people of the state,” Raghu said.
In Bengaluru, celebrations in front of Siddaramaiah’s Kumara Krupa road residence saw supporters carry his pictures, slogans praising him, and wishing him good luck by pouring milk over life size cutouts- meant to bring good luck.
At Shivakumar’s residence, there were celebrations too, but they were considerably more muted, with most supporters still recovering from the disappointment that the Chief Minister’s chair had eluded their leader. Here too however, slogans were raised praising Shivakumar, and supporters broke coconuts in the middle of the road, a custom that marks the beginning of an auspicious event. In his home district of Ramnagara, Congress workers who had blocked traffic on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway demanding he be made CM on Wednesday, stopped the protest and observed silence on the day the party made the official announcement. However, supporters did offer special prayers at the Kengal Anjaneya Swamy temple in Channapatna.
Meanwhile, government and police officials swarmed the Shree Kanteerava stadium again, trucks setting up tents and workers unloading materials, a day after they had first started preparations in the morning, and then stopped by the afternoon. The stadium, in the heart of Bengaluru city, will see the swearing in of Siddaramaiah at 12:30 pm on Saturday with the Congress central leadership and its Chief Ministers are expected to be in attendance. Opposition leaders from across the country such as Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, NC chief Farooq Abdullah and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik have also been sent invitations.
