Reddys ‘Cleanse’ Bellary of Cong ‘Evil Spell’
 
P M Raghunandan/DHNS

Bellary, Aug 11: The Bellary Reddy brothers on Tuesday tried to hit back at the Congress in their own style: They performed ‘Congress vakradristi vimochana homa to ward off all evil spirits that might have brought by the Congress padayatris to the city’. 
 
KMF Chairman and Bellary city MLA Somashekara Reddy along with his wife performed the homa at Moti circle in the heart of the city, where the Congress ‘Naada Rakshana Nadige’ passed through on Monday.

Nearly a dozen priests assisted him in the homa. “Bellary nagare samasta jane sukhino bavanthu…Congress vakradristi nivaranam…sakala dosha parihara mastu…” he recited along with the priests while performing a pooja to a huge ‘dristi bombe’ (scarecrow) installed at the circle. The bombe is about 10 feet and made of plaster of paris. He also  cut several pumpkins into pieces and sprinkled haldi, kumkum and holy water around as part of the worship.

Several of Health Minister B Sriramulu’s supporters, who have tonsured their heads, participated in the homa. The BJP workers sprinkled holy water prepared at the homa all around the main thoroughfares where the Congress padayatra passed through.

The Reddys have also decided to perform similar homa and pooja at all taluk centers in the district, besides installing a scarecrow.  Some of their followers went to Gorur in Hassan district to release ashes in river Hemavati.

Somashekar ridiculed the Congress yatra as an utter failure and lambasted the Congress leaders, especially Siddaramaiah and Anil Lad, for making false allegations against his brothers (Janardhana Reddy and Karunakara Reddy).

He blamed the Congress for the poor civic amenities in the city and promised to transform Bellary into a model city in two years.

The Reddy brothers, who are upset with the Congress leaders hitting out at them during the public rally, have lined up several programmes to counter the Congress.

They are planning to organise a big event as part of the coming ‘varamahalakshmi’ pooja on August 20 in Bellary to counter the Congress padayatra.

Congress posters out

This apart, all Congress posters, banners and flexes put up across the city for the Monday’s yatra and public rally, were removed on Monday night itself.

Even the district stadium, where the public rally was held, has been completely cleaned. However, the BJP banners and flexes remain untouched.