On his first day as chief minister, Jagadish Shettar was made to feel at home in the State Capital, as thousands of his followers from North Karnataka, mainly from the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad, came to cheer him.
Large numbers of supporters thronged his house, and later went over to Raj Bhavan where they were not allowed inside even as Shettar was being sworn in, and finally landed up at Gayathri Vihar, a chowltry in the Palace Grounds.
The visitors from north Karnataka included residents of Bagalkot, Gadag, Bijapur, Raichur, Bellary, Koppal and Haveri.
A jubilant Paradappa Shivappa Kuribagi, a Shettar supporter from Gokak said: “We drove up from Gokak in a private vehicle. Even though we had an invitation to Raj Bhavan, the police didn’t allow us inside.”
Huge screens were erected to telecast live the swearing-in ceremony from Raj Bhavan at Gayathri Vihar. The ground, resounded with the sometimes sing-song, sometimes robust Kannada spoken in North Karnataka, erupted with joy as Shettar took the oath of office.
Till Shettar reached the venue around 2:30 pm, the crowd was treated with cultural programmes including folk dances and songs.
Troupes had come from north Karnataka to perform on the occasion. Rendering of the popular folk song “Taravalla Tagi Ninna Tamboori...” of Shishunal Sharief enthralled the crowd.
As the Man of The Day stepped on the dais, they gave him a standing ovation. Of course, the police on duty had a tough time restraining the crowd from getting on the dais.
Shettar’s wife Shilpa, Ministers Basavaraj Bommai, Murugesh Nirani, C M Udasi and Kalakappa Bandi, MPs Prahlad Joshi and P C Mohan besides various leaders from the twin cities, accompanied Shettar.
Members of Hubli-Dharwad Nagarika Abhivruddhi Samiti led by its president Chandrashekara Sambrani felicitated Shettar with traditional “Rumal” and garlanded him.
Three other local associations from North Karnataka also felicitated Shettar along with his wife. New Minister Kalakappa Bandi, a close associate of Shettar, who spearheaded the arrangements at Palace Grounds got more cheers from the crowd.
Sangappa K of Hubli told Deccan Herald that he, along with 200 supporters of Shettar, travelled to Bangalore in four buses.
They had breakfast at the venue, served by a catering agency run by a man from North Karnataka, as also lunch. It was ghee rice, curd rice and a khoya-based sweet for the lunch. “We reached the Palace Grounds around 10 am.
Many of us have our families accompanying us as we feel it is a great occasion for our region to celebrate,” he said.
One of the organisers said that the party had organised 100 buses to get the supporters to Bangalore.
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