Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Gowda married Revathi at a farmhouse near Bidadi in Ramanagara district amid the extended lockdown.
The function reportedly did not follow any social distancing norms. Kumaraswamy, when asked about the wedding party that disregarded all preventive measures, said that only people who are blood-relatives had attended the wedding function.
CM Yediyurappa defends the event
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has defended the former Chief Minister. Yediyurappa spoke to the media that there was no need of discussing the issue of the marriage as it was held in a simple manner. Although the former minister's family was quite large, he held the wedding in its limits, said the CM. He also expressed his regards to the newlywed.
Many controversies have been revolving regarding the marriage. No media persons were permitted for the ceremony. Due to the lockdown, instead of postponing the function, the wedding had been shifted to a farmhouse, permitting a small crowd.
Nikhil Kumaraswamy weds Revathi at farmhouse amid lockdown
The farmhouse was 3 km from Bidadi and 45 km southwest of Bengaluru towards Mysuru in the state. Nikhil (28) got engaged to Revathi (22), grand-niece of state Congress leader M. Krishnappa, in Bengaluru on February 10. "About 100 people attended the ceremony, performed as per Hindu rites by priests in the presence of the couple's parents, other family members and relatives," said Sadananda.
Among those present were Nikhil's grandfather -- JD-S supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, grandmother Chennamma, uncles, including state's former minister H.D. Revanna, cousin and Hassan Lok Sabha member Prajwal Hegde.
The lockdown extension since April 15 to May 3 forced the Gowda clan to shift the wedding venue to the farmhouse from the bride's house in Bengaluru, which is a Covid-19 hotspot, with over 80 positive cases reported so far.
Though Ramanagara is a green spot without a single Covid-19 case so far, security was tightened for the event and the 3 km road to the farmhouse from the state highway at Bidadi was blocked to prevent the party's cadres and Nikhil's fans from flocking to the venue.
Nikhil's mother Anita is the JD-S legislator from the Ramanagara assembly segment. She won the seat in the November 2018 by-election after Kumaraswamy vacated it, as he had also won from the adjacent Channapatna assembly segment in the May 2018 assembly elections in the southern state and retained it.
