Bengaluru: When Janardhan Reddy can’t go to Ballari, he recreates his Ballari home here. When he can’t hold his daughter’s wedding in Tirupati, that holiest of temples he is extremely devoted to… well, he brings Tirupati here.
To just ensure that his daughter’s marriage is, indeed, made in the ‘vaikunta’ or heaven that Tirupati is known as, Reddy took his opulence quotient up two more notches by recreating the famed Tirumala Tirupati temple in Bengaluru’s Palace Grounds for daughter Bramhani’s mega wedding on Wednesday. Yes, complete with seven doors that led up to the mantap fashioned like the temple, with a ten-foot high idol of Lord Balaji.
A Rolls Royce decked up with orchids, artificial elephants at the main gate to welcome guests, a hall with seating for 10,000 people that was overflowing, fountains inside the hall to add to the glitz, over a hundred air-conditioners and some more; actors, singers and comedians from Kannada and Telugu filmdoms, MPs, MLAs, Ministers -- just a few glimpses from the wedding hall.
And the obscene display of wealth will continue now in Reddy’s hometown Ballari for the next three days, with the family flying across in special aircraft Wednesday afternoon. The bride, groom and their families have a procession Wednesday evening – just as kings and princes did in times of yore. Reddy, it is said, fancies himself as a reincarnation of the erstwhile Vijayanagar empire’s most powerful ruler Krishnadevaraya. There are pujas that will go on for the next three days.
The continuous stream of influential politicians took many by surprise at the wedding that saw a crowd of over 30,000 people – a large part of them, supporters of Reddy and his close aide Ballari MP Sriramulu who had been ferried into town by the train- and bus-load.
If BJP State president BS Yeddyurappa skipped the Parliament session to make a brief reappearance with five other party MLAs on Wednesday, Governor Vajubhai Vala’s presence spoke of how even the Constitutional head of the State gave it a quiet stamp of approval.
But it was the presence of three top Ministers of the Congress government – Home Minister G Parameshwara, Power Minister DK Shivakumar and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy – which was a surprise element, considering Chief Minister Siddaramaiah avoided the event.
But one must not see a wedding from a political perspective, “we don’t play politics in marriages,” is all Parameshwara said as he left the venue.
Former MLA from Ballari and Congress spokesperson U Bhupathi (who did not go for the event) is shocked. “You would have thought his entire assets were attached by the ED, that he was penniless. But obviously not… And I always thought Yeddyurappa would come, it is with Reddy’s money that Yeddyurappa came to power. The governor is also a BJP appointee. If all these VIPs come, it won’t be surprising if the witnesses (in the cases of illegal mining Reddy faces) will turn hostile tomorrow,” he says.
Clearly, Reddy has shown his reach with the gala event he organised. In a sort-of thank-you speech he made just after the mahurat, he became emotional with the crowd, proclaiming: “I have forgotten the last five years of my life because of today. You people have shown me all the love… I’m indebted to you all.”
The last five years, it may be recalled, have been spent mostly between jails and court halls. Reddy, an accused in the estimated Rs 3,000-crore illegal mining scam between 2007 and 2011, was in jail for over three years. He is currently out on conditional bail.
All guests were given away tulsi saplings and sandalwood saplings as return gifts, along with a box of sweets.
Was this some form of repentance for all the environmental damage, since Ballari was once known for its sandalwood groves that have since disappeared due to illegal mining? Can’t say, but if 30,000 people plant these saplings today, they will become quite rich in five to eight years.
“The government has been trying to encourage sandalwood cultivation. You can sell it back to the forest department and it will yield even Rs 15,000 per kg. One tree will give you at least ten kgs… and can give up to 23-24 kgs of sandalwood,” says a forest officer on condition of anonymity. It’s a tree that grows easily, and multiplies too – needing care for perhaps just the initial three to four years.
Was this event also a soft launch for his son, to introduce his son Gali Kireeti Reddy, a pre-university student. The teenager was in a specially choreographed dance sequence on the day of the sangeet, mesmerising guests with his sharp moves. Dressed in a sherwani, he also featured in the ‘invitation’ video, lip-syncing along to the tunes of the come-one-come-all song that played out on the LCD screen given out as a wedding invitation.
“Maybe he (Janardhan Reddy) wants to introduce him in film line, who knows? Until now, I did not even know he had a son, I have never seen him before,” laughs Bhupathi, of the prominence with which Kireeti has been through this past week’s extravaganza.
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