S.N. laid to rest with State honours

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHITRADURGA, AUG. 9. Amid chanting of ``vachanas'', the body of the former Chief Minister, Mr. Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa, who died here on Tuesday night, was laid to rest with full State honours at Seebara, near here, at 5 p.m. today.

The Vice-President, Mr. Krishan Kant; the Governor, Ms. V. S. Rama Devi; the Union Ministers, Mr. Ananth Kumar and Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi; the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna; the AICC(I) General Secretary, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad; the KPCC(I) President, Mr. V. S. Koujalgi; the Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge; the former Chief Ministers, Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde and Mr. M. Veerappa Moily, and many other ministers and political leaders were present.

Except for one daughter, Ms. Poornima, who is in Canada, the eight other children of Mr. Nijalingappa were present when the body was buried according to the ``Sharana'' (Lingayat) rites at the Swarna Jayanti Vana in Seebara.

Earlier, his body was taken in a procession from his house, ``Vinaya'', around 12-05 p.m. and kept at the SJM auditorium to allow the public to pay their last respects.

People, including many schoolchildren, had gathered in front of his house since this morning. Despite the incessant drizzle, a large number of people thronged the SJM auditorium. Hundreds of people accompanied the procession for nearly 5 km when it left the Chitradurga city for Seebara around 3 p.m. Though the funeral had been fixed for 3 p.m., it was delayed due to the delay in the arrival of the VIPs.

The Vice-President, the Governor, the Chief Minister, Union Ministers and others, who arrived here by helicopters, straight away drove to the burial site.

Amid chanting of ``Sri Guru Basava Lingaya Namaha'', Sri Siddarama Swamiji of Murugharajendra Bruhanmath presided over the ceremony. Sri Shivamurthy Murugharajendra Swamiji of the Bruhanmath did ``pushparchane'' before applying ``vibhuti'' on the body.

The Kanivehalli Chavanti Math Swamiji initiated the burial ceremony by chanting the ``mrutunjaya mantra''. After a gun salute by the police, the body was buried with the national anthem playing in the background.

Other dignitaries who attended the ceremony were the ministers, Prof. B.K. Chandrashekar, Dr. A. B. Maalakaradddy, Mr. K. H. Ranganath, Mr. Sageer Ahmed, Mr. Kashappanavar, Mr. Baburao Chinchanasur, Mr. Allam Veerabhadrappa, Mr. Kashappanavar, Dr. G. Parameswar and Mr. B. B. Chimmanna Katti; the former ministers, Mr. P.G.R. Sindhia, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. B. L. Shankar; the Opposition Leaders in the Legislative Assembly and Council, Mr. Jagadish Shettar and Mr. K. H. Srinivasa, respectively; the former Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Mr. H. Hanumanthappa; Mr. D. B. Kalmankar, Mr. Haranahalli Ramaswamy, the Chief Secretary, Mr. B. K. Bhattacharya; the Director-General of Police, Mr. C. Dinakar, and others.

The Vice-President, Mr. Krishan Kant (centre), at the funeral of the former Chief Minister, Mr. S. Nijalingappa, at Seebara near Chitradurga on Wednesday. He is flanked (from left) by the Governor, Ms. V. S. Rama Devi, the Union Minister, Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, the Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, and the BJP leader, Mr. B. S. Yediyurappa. The AICC(I) General Secretary, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, is seen.

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