Hundreds of followers descended on the City on Sunday, just to meet their leader and chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah at his house on Diganta Bhavan Road, T K Layout at Kuvempunagar in the City.
Siddaramaiah, who stayed there overnight after his arrival from Bangalore on Saturday, woke up to the raucous environment outside the house. However, barring a few followers in his coterie, not all could make it inside the house, owing to the heavy security in place.
Siddaramaiah later came out of the house and received bouquets from the crowd that had been jostling for space since the early hours. The police had erected barricades for a queue system for Siddaramaiah’s fans to meet him.
He later left for Chamundi Hills and offered puja at the temple of Goddess Chamundeshwari. He stopped en route to the Hills at K G Koppal and Kurubarahalli Circle, where he was greeted by his supporters.
Later, at the temple, chief priest Shashishekar Dikshit welcomed the would-be chief minister with a garland.
On April 15, Siddaramaiah had visited the temple, before filing his nomination papers for the elections.
No symbols please
A few Congress workers who made a bid to carry the plastic ‘Hand’ symbol of the Congress party inside the temple were stopped by the policemen. They were allowed inside, only after the police took away the symbols from them.
A posse of five policemen - one head constable and four constables - have been deputed on round-the-clock sentry duty at the residence of Siddaramaiah.
That apart, a platoon of armed forces (either KSRP or CAR), depending on the availability, is stationed there.
