Bengaluru: Two former chief ministers, several former ministers and legislators, some of Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), were among high-status guests who came to bless former minister and mining baron, Gali Janardhan Reddy’s daughter, Brahmani, on the eve of her wedding with Rajeev Reddy, in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Mr Reddy’s friends in other parties—former minister and actor M H Ambareesh and wife Sumalatha Ambareesh, former MP K.C. Kondaiah, former ministers N Cheluvarayaswamy, Zameer Ahmed —were also among the glitterati at Bengaluru Palace along with actor Yash and producer Rockline Venkatesh at the wedding-eve rituals.

Among former BJP ministers was Aravind Limbavali though some BJP insiders said the party’s central leadership has instructed state leaders to stay away from the wedding, whose elaborate invitation card has already grabbed headlines. State party chief and former Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa has denied receiving any such diktat. “I have decided to attend the wedding ceremony,” he asserted.

Sources close to former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who too has talked of attending the wedding, argue there is no reason to link the wedding with black money. But asserting that he would not go anywhere near the Reddy extravaganza, one Union minister from the state contended that when the Prime Minister had launched an aggressive campaign against black money, it was not the right thing to do. Union Ministers Ananth Kumar, D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Jigajinagi, are unlikely to attend the ceremony either, going by sources. A noncommittal state BJP spokesperson, Suresh Kumar said it was left to the discretion of the leaders to attend the wedding or not as there was no blanket instruction against it.

Whether Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former Prime Minister and Janata Dal Secular supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda, who are also on the guest list, will care to attend the wedding on Wednesday as some Congress leaders including health minister K R Ramesh Kumar have criticized ostentatious weddings in particular of Mr Reddy’s daughter. The minister has already moved a private member resolution in the Legislative Assembly, seeking a ban on extravagant weddings.

Guest List

B.S. Yeddyurappa, State BJP President
G.M. Siddeshwar, former union minister
Suresh Angadi, BJP MP
Raju N Gowda, former BJP minister
Revu Naik Belamagi, BJP leader
S.K. Bellubbi, BJP leader
P.C. Mohan, BJP MP
Sriramulu, BJP MP
Nagendra, BJP MLA
Suresh Babu, BJP MLA
Anand Singh, BJP MLA
Cheluvarayaswamy, JD(S) leader
Zameer Ahmed Khan, JD(S), MLA
Film Personalities

Tamannaah, Bollywood actor
Haripriya, Kannada actor
Gopichand, Telugu actor