No lockdown for lawmakers; BJP MLA celebrated his birthday in K'taka

Ruling BJP legislator A.S. Jayaram reportedly 'celebrated' his 51st birthday lavishly at a village in Karnataka's Tumakuru district, flouting all the norms of nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. The matter came to light after a national news channel tweeted a clip of the birthday celebrations.

Bengaluru:Even as the sharpest one-day increase in COVID-19 toll so far the number of coronavirus cases in India surged by 896 in the last 24 hours, yet a BJP MLA from Karnataka’s Turuvekere constituency Masala Jayaram went on to celebrate his birthday lavishly at a village in Tumakuru district on Friday.

The matter came to light after a national news channel tweeted a clip of the birthday celebrations.

According to the reports, more than 100 people attended the party in a tightly packed hall, flouting the rules of social distancing.

"Masala's family members and relatives celebrated his birthday in a house compound at Ankalakuppe village in Gubbi taluk where hundreds of his supporters also gathered to felicitate him," Gubbi police inspector P.M. Nagaraj told a news agency over phone.

Gubbi in Tumakuru district is 120km northwest of Bengaluru.

"As Masala's birthday coincided with the Hanuman Jayanthi function in the area, food was served to the people who gathered at the Anjaneya Swamy temple in the adjacent Manikuppe village," Nagaraj said.

Some glimpse of the birthday bash

Denying that the legislator violated the lockdown, Nagaraj said the birthday function was held in a compound at Ankalakuppe whereas free food was served in the temple vicinity at Manikuppa, which is an adjacent village.

"Social distancing was, however, not observed, when food (lemon rice) was served, as the village folk scrambled to grab the food packets," admitted Nagaraj.

Though, this is not the first case of that a lawmaker make mockery of the centre's direction to curb the deadly pandemic.

Earlier in the month of March, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa attended the marriage ceremony of a BJP leader at Belgavi, soon after the centre banned all social gathering, amid novel coronavirus scare.

While the MLA was celebrating his birthday on Friday, the number of coronavirus infections in Karnataka crossed 200, with 10 new cases confirmed in the state.