GADAG: Timmapur wore a deserted look on Saturday after many trooped out of the village to have a look at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Timmapur is called Siddaramaiah village as there are Siddaramaiah fans in every other house here. Many houses, grocery shops, tea shops and pan beeda shops remained shut.
The villagers were attending the CM’s function at Kanaka Bhavan on Mulgund Road in Gadag. The villagers here celebrate Siddaramaiah’s birthday as a community festival.
On Saturday morning, hundreds of villagers left the village in tractors, buses and by other modes of transport. Timmapur is 26 kms from Gadag town. The villagers had planned for this a week ago and halted their agriculture works on Saturday to attend the CM function.
Siddaramaiah visited the village in the 90s when he contested Lok Sabha poll from Koppal. As part of the election campaign he visited Timmapur and listened to the problems of villagers here. Though he did not win, he addressed many of their problems, converting them to his ardent followers.
When Siddaramaiah became the CM in 2023, the whole village celebrated his victory as their own and performed pujas in the village temples. In February, a villager from Timmapur had held a photo of Siddaramaiah and performed holy bath in Prayagraj and prayed that Siddaramaiah should continue as chief minister. Yallappa Babari, a farmer leader from Timmapur, said, “Timmapur almost emptied out on Saturday. Many went to Gadag to sit in front to see the CM. Grocery shops, tea shops and pan beeda shops were closed by 9 am. Some areas resembled lockdown times. The village has many Siddaramaiah fans irrespective of parties, caste and religion”.