Mining baron G Janardhana Reddy’s ostentatious display of wealth in organising his daughter’s wedding while millions of people are waiting in long queues to access a few thousand rupees, appears to have embarrassed at least some in the political establishment.
Fanfare is an understatement for the five-day extravaganza that Janardhan Reddy has put together for his daughter Brahmani’s wedding.
Initially, there were reports that the BJP’s central leadership had given a directive to its leaders to skip the big fat wedding of former party man and Karnataka minister Janardhana Reddy’s daughter. Posing for the shutterbugs with a man being probed by multiple agencies would not bode well for the BJP’s ‘anti-corruption’ image, a few leaders had said.
But, Karnataka BJP president and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has denied that the party had issued any such diktat. He has said that he will attend the wedding on Wednesday.
“It’s not true that the party high command has instructed us not to attend the wedding. I have been invited and I will attend,” Yeddyurappa told News 18 on Tuesday.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar has said that the party does not decide what people do in their personal lives. He too has said that he is going.
On Monday, it was reported that BJP top brass in the state were in a dilemma over attending the mining baron daughter’s wedding.
"The party has not issued a formal order but the party has said it's better to stay away from the big fat wedding in these times," a senior leader told Times of India .
Reddy who is still being investigated by the CBI and ED in cases of illegal mining and corruption still has clout in the BJP MLA Sriramalu is also a force to reckon with in the region.
However, union ministers from the state such as HN Ananthkumar and DV Sadananda are likely to give it a miss.
“We are trying our best to defend PM Modi’s demonetization and war on black money. Attending this wedding will surely cause a huge embarrassment to our party,” a top BJP leader told News18 requesting anonymity.
YSV Datta, spokesperson of the Janata Dal (Secular), told The News Minute that the party ethos was against such lavish weddings. “Our party believes in simplicity and we are against such lavishness. We have not been called, and even if we were, we would not go.” He declined to say whether party leaders would attend.
To a question, he said that media reports that party chief HD Deve Gowda would attend the wedding were false. “Deve Gowda will not attend the wedding.”