Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah attends Meti’s funeral

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah attended the funeral of former Minister H.Y. Meti in Thimmapur village in Bagalkot district on Wednesday.

The former Minister was laid to rest next to the graves of his parents in the family farm, with full state honours.

Senior Ministers including H.C. Mahadevappa, Satish Jarkiholi, R.B. Timmapur, M.B. Patil, Shivananda Patil, Bhyrathi Suresh, and other leaders participated.

The mortal remains of Meti, who died in a private hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday, were brought to Bagalkot in the morning and kept for a public viewing. They were taken from the district stadium and brought to Thimmapur later.

Mr. Siddaramaiah described the death as a personal loss. “He was with me through the decades. He supported me greatly while building the AHINDA organisation. I met him when I first became an MLA in 1983. From then on, we were together. He was committed to every decision I took. He followed me when I joined the Janata Dal, the JD(S), and the Congress. I will remember him as someone who worked shoulder to shoulder with me,” he said.

“He was a Minister twice, MLA five times, and a MP once. But he never behaved arrogantly. We should remember him by developing the district and by taking his dream projects like the government medical college,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said. “He was born in the Kuruba caste and was a secular person. He was a person who treated everyone with love,” he said.

“When I asked him to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 1996, he agreed. Even though he had told me in the past that he did not know Hindi and English, he accepted my advice, won, and helped H.D. Deve Gowda become the Prime Minister. It was not easy for a Kuruba leader to win from the Bagalkot Lok Sabha constituency,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the tender process for the government medical college had already been conducted and that the foundation stone would be laid soon.