DAVANAGERE: Scores of people from different parts of the state thronged Shyamanuru Palace Grounds in Davangere shouting slogans like 'Houda Huliya', 'Mattomme Siddaramaiah' (Once again Siddaramaiah) to mark the birthday celebrations of the former chief minister.
People from different places headed towards Davanagere to witness their leader Siddaramaiah's 75th birthday celebrations this morning. It continued even at 3 pm in the afternoon.
A long queue of vehicles including cars, buses, two-wheelers, tempo travellers carrying people from different places was seen. People were stranded in the vehicles from about 15-20 kms away from the venue.
Even hundreds of Congress leaders from other neighbouring districts were unable to reach the venue.
Fans and party workers of Congress on their way to the venue were seen dancing to the tunes of songs --- 'Mysuru Huliya', and 'Self Made Siddanna', songs sung by Girija Siddi and Ravindra Soragavi.
Rahul Gandhi who was stranded in the traffic for about one and half hours finally reached the venue with great efforts on the part of the policemen.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi visited Murugha mutt in Chitradurga and sought the blessings of Seer Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.
The 75th birthday is being organised by "Sri Siddaramaiah-75 Amruta Mahotsava Sameeti".
Ten years ago in 2012, Siddaramaiah, ahead of 2013 Assembly polls following which he went on to become Chief Minister, had celebrated his 65th birthday on a grand scale.
Both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar are nursing Chief Ministerial aspirations in the event of the party coming to power.
The event is being seen in some quarters as an apparent show of strength by his camp, as it comes ahead of the party sounding a bugle for Assembly polls.
His critics see it as an attempt by Siddaramaiah's camp to project him and his contributions, with an aim to send out a message to both the high command and his detractors within the party, ahead of polls, while consolidating the Kuruba leader's 'AHINDA' vote base.
AHINDA is a Kannada acronym that stands for 'Alpasankhyataru' (minorities), 'Hindulidavaru' (Backward Classes) and 'Dalitaru' (Dalits).
Siddaramaiah though has rejected claims that the event is being organised to project him ahead of polls, he has however maintained that there will certainly be a political message from the event, as none in politics are 'Sanyasis'.
Narrating how his date of birth was recorded, Siddaramaiah has several times in the past said that neither his family nor he knew his exact date of birth.
"According to records, I am 75 years old now, but no one knows for sure. This is why I generally do not celebrate my birthday but my friends, well-wishers and followers wanted to celebrate this time, as 75 years is a milestone in one's life," he said.
Recalling that he was enrolled into school straight away for class 5, he stated that "At that time, my school headmaster Rajappa wrote down my date of birth as 03-08-1947 which has stuck till now." He has also repeatedly stated that 2023 will be his last election.
Having switched to Congress from JD(S), Siddaramaiah was popular as CM (2013-18) because of his populist "Bhagya" schemes and has a pan-Karnataka image, but he had failed to bring the party back to power in 2018, despite all populism.
(With PTI inputs)