Devaraj Urs, Karnataka longest serving CM's samadhi ignored in Kallahalli

Mysore: It was the 99th birth anniversary of D. Devaraj Urs, one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of Karnataka on Wednesday but no member of his family, political leader, public representative or senior official bothered to visit his samadhi in Kallahalli in Hunsur taluk, about 50 km from Mysore.

When this correspondent arrived in Kallahalli at 10 am only a handful of people were seen at the samadhi set in the midst of bushes on the family’s farm. No family member or leader had bothered to visit it to pay tribute. While one of Devaraj Urs’s daughters, Chandra Prabha is unwell and lives in Mysore, another, Bharati Urs lives in Bengaluru. His grandchildren, Suraj Urs and Manjunath Urs are busy with their own lives and aparently don’t have the time to visit Kallahalli.

Only two of Devaraj Urs’s followers, 77-year-old K.S. Udhaiah and 75-year-old Kempananjappa, were at his dilapidated ancestral home, sharing fond memories of their leader. They made no bones about their disappointment with politicians for failing to pay their respects to him on his birth anniversary. Not many people of Kallahalli too bothered to take time out to pay their respects with the men busy in the fields cultivating tobacco.