Patel buried with State honours

By Our Staff Correspondent

DAVANGERE, DEC. 13. The body of the former Chief Minister, Jayadevappa Halappa Patel, was buried with State honours at his native village, Kariganur, about 17 km from here, at 2.15 p.m. today.

District Armed Reserve Police fired three rounds in the air as a mark of respect to the departed leader who died in Bangalore on Tuesday.

The burial was marked by the chanting of hymns. Sri Murugarajendra Swamiji of the Murugarajendra Math supervised the last rites. On behalf of the State Government, the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, placed a wreath on the body.

Earlier, the body of Patel was taken in a procession from his ancestral house to a nearby farm owned by the family where it was buried. Thousands of people had gathered to pay their last respects.

Mr. Krishna, accompanied by the Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, and the former Chief Minister, Mr. S. Bangarappa, arrived around 1 p.m.

The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, the national President of the Janata Dal (U), Mr. Sharad Yadav, and the former Union Minister, Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde, arrived earlier by a private helicopter.

Almost all the Ministers, who were part of the Patel government attended the funeral, including Messrs. M.P. Prakash, P.G.R. Sindhia, S.S. Patil, R.V. Deshpande, H. Shivappa, C. Byre Gowda, H.D. Revanna and Ms. Leelavathi R. Prasad.

The Union Ministers, Mr. V. Dhananjaya Kumar and Mr. V. Srinivas Prasad, the KPCC(I) President, Mr. V.S Koujalgi, the president of the BJP State unit, Mr. Basavaraj Patil Sedam, the former Union Minister, Mr. S.R. Bommai and the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Jagadish Shettar, were among those present.

Mr. Kashappanavar, Mr. S.S. Mallikarjun, Mr. H.K. Patil, and Ms. Rani Satish, were among the Ministers who attended the funeral. Also present were the BJP leaders, Mr. B.S. Yediyurappa and Mr. K.S. Eshwarappa, the industrialist, Mr. Hari Khoday, the film actress, Ms. Hema Choudhry, and the Kannada Chaluvali leader, Mr. Vatal Nagaraj.

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