JOIN USPolitical leaders were seen jostling for attention at the funeral of the swami when the mortal remains of the departed seer arrived at the spot designated for burial.
Balagangadharanatha swami, over the years, had emerged as the voice of peasants and Adichunchanagiri Mutt has a strong following of the Vokkaliga community in the State.
Former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, who at one time was not seeing eye-to-eye with the pontiff, camped at the mutt till the last rites were completed.
Former Union minister S M Krishna, Karnataka Janata Party president B S Yeddyurappa, ministers Shobha Karandlaje, C P Yogeeshwara, actor and Congress leader Ambareesh – all made it to the venue. Congress legislator D K Shivakumar and Home Minister R Ashoka did not lag behind. JD (S) State president H D Kumaraswamy and Mandya MP Cheluvarayaswamy, were among those present when the will made by the late swami was read out.
Not many leaders except Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and Minister Basavaraj Bommai, from North Karnataka attended the last rites. Shettar, along with Bommai, H N Ananth Kumar, MP and Suresh Gowda, MLA from Tumkur Rural, went to Nagamangala by a helicopter. Other politicians spotted at the venue were Sunita Veerappa Gowda, Jayaprakash Hegde, V Somanna and D B Chandre Gowda.