On the lotus’ first full bloom at the south of the Vindhyas — in the form of new Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa — the BJP’s national top brass left no stone unturned to make it a bash to remember. Hotel Grand Ashok on Kumara Krupa Road hosted the party’s who’s-who on Monday, at a lunch organised for leaders who had come from across the country.
Arriving at the hotel after the CM’s swearing-in, the leaders were seen congratulating each other on the party’s rise to its first administrative high seat in South India. Former ministers D H Shankaramurthy and K S Eshwarappa were the first to arrive at the hotel, as security was being beefed up for the entry of the national leaders.
Leaders from Tamil Nadu, including L Ganesan and Thirunavukkarasu were there, congratulating the local leaders.
Sniffer dogs did their rounds at the hotel premises, before former union minister and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi made his entry. By the time L K Advani arrived for the lunch — with  the security men in tow — guests and visitors at the hotel had already caught on to the buzz.
Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Raman Singh, Sushil Modi, Gopinath Munde, Vinay Katiyar, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Prakash Javadekar were among the top leaders who gathered around at the lunch.
State leaders, including Sadananda Gowda and C T Ravi, were seen basking in the glory as leader after beaming leader arrived at the hotel, before the party’s press briefing kicked off at a neighbouring hotel.