A housewife who could no longer tolerate her advocate husband returning home past midnight in an inebriated state, mustered the courage to share her woes over the phone with veteran Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary.
Not just being a good counsellor, Poojary even decided to intervene by summoning the husband for a ‘man-to-man talk.’ The advocate, being a close aide of Poojary, took his master’s advice and ensured that his wife never had to complain about his late-night drinking binges again.
With or without power, 77-year-old Janardhan Poojary is known to have a golden heart not just in Congress circles but in private life as well. Poojary, contesting on a Congress ticket for the ninth time from Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency, is an icon for his wife and four children. His family believes that Poojary has not received his due as he keeps a low profile, said close aide Harikrishina Bantwal.
“Yes there are fewer interactions between Poojary and family members and none in fact with relatives visiting our house in Bantwal,” reveals Deepak Poojary, third among the siblings.
“But that does not mean he is less affectionate. We realised his true affection when my father took nearly five years to come to terms with the death of my elder brother Madhukar who passed away after a brief illness,” says Deepak.
He treated politics as a service and never discussed it inside the house. He hardly entertained visitors at home and would meet them at Circuit House. Poojary was not keen on his children, including Santhosh or daughter Mamatha joining politics. “Thus I never dared ask a favour for fear of damaging his image. Helping the poor is ingrained in him,” Deepak adds.
Poojary could have become a governor or a Rajya Sabha member had he shown interest.
But his desire is to be elected by the people, raise poor people’s issues in parliament and see people happy around him, he says.
Deepak has many anecdotes about their father’s eccentric nature. In one such incident, Deepak had to guard the footwear worn by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. During her visit to Kudroli Temple, security officials had instructed Poojary to appoint an honest person to keep a watch on the footwear to ensure that explosives were not planted in it.
Poojary entrusted the task to Deepak. But Poojary’s heart melted witnessing his son watching over the footwear and later asked whether Deepak had felt bad.