Differently-abled pray for BS Yeddyurappa's good health

Around 80 mentally-, visually- and physically-challenged persons on Tuesday were allegedly hoodwinked into gathering and praying for beleaguered former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, whose case comes up for hearing at the city civil court today over his alleged involvement in BDA land de-notification scam.

Shockingly, these people, including 20 mentally-challenged children, were not aware that they were being taken to Mahatma Gandhi statue at Anand Rao Circle for that purpose. They were told they would attend a “function” where they would “meet friends” and receive an S-band radio each as gifts.

The Indian Disabled League (IDL) and Mathushree Manovikasa Sangha (MMS) organised the meet. Sampath Kumar, who is visually-challenged, learnt that the gathering was to show “personal care and love” for Yeddyurappa only on hearing announcements over the microphone.

“We were told that there was a function at Anand Rao Circle where someone was donating S-band radios for the blind. On reaching the venue, we realised the real reason was to show support for Yeddyurappa and pray for him,” he said. “This is cheating… If I had known this was the real reason, I would not have come here. This is wrong.”

“We do not support Yeddyurappa,” said Sukumari, another visually-challenged person. “We thought this was a function to meet our friends.”