Pics: Lavish sets at Bengaluru Palace Grounds for minister Sriramulu’s daughter’s wedding

The last leg of a nine-day wedding celebration of Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu's daughter began on Thursday morning in Bengaluru's Palace Grounds.

A grand procession arrived to Palace Grounds with people in cars and on horse carriages as drums played. Sriramulu's daughter Rakshita is marrying Lalith Sanjeev Reddy, an MBA graduate in a nine-day affair that began in Ballari on February 27.

Video from lavish wedding of Karnataka Health Minister Sriramulu's daughter at Palace Grounds. Multi-crore wedding with elaborate sets expected to have 1 lakh guests. Ironically, this is the week health dept advised against mass gatherings due to fears of coronavirus spread. pic.twitter.com/E6Yk7deTZ3

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At the venue, Karntaka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa could be seen with the bride and groom, posing for photos. BJP’s Janardhan Reddy was also present and seen with the couple.

The pre-muhurat events began on Wednesday night and arrangements were made for over a lakh guests. Last night’s events saw were also quite lavish with a literal carpet of flowers arranged to welcome the guests into the venue.

Those close to Sriramulu sought to play down suggestions that the wedding will be one of the costliest in Karnataka's history along the lines of the lavish wedding hosted by mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy in 2016 when his daughter Brahmani got married.

"The budget is not close to Rs 500 crore as reported in some sections of the media. This is a traditional wedding ceremony and we have made arrangements for a large number of visitors," a person who works with Sriramulu told TNM. A source close to Sriramulu, however, confirmed that the wedding is expected to be a multi-crore affair.

Costume designer Saniya Sardharia, who is the official stylist of Kannada actors Yash and Radhika Pandit, and make-up artists involved in Deepika Padukone's wedding have been roped in by Sriramulu for the wedding.

Two separate sets were erected at Palace Grounds in Bengaluru. One of the planned sets is based on Hampi's Virupaksha temple, a source close to Sriramulu said. 200 people were deployed for decorating the set with flowers.

On Wednesday night, festivities including the vara pooja and the pre-muhurat events took place. Sriramulu and his long-time friend Janardhana Reddy were both present at the event.

The haldi programme was held on March 1 and the mehendi programme was held on March 3. It has been a busy week for Sriramulu, who is juggling his duties at wedding ceremonies with meetings with health officials in the state after a techie from Hyderabad working in Bengaluru tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

On Wednesday after news emerged that two coworkers of the Hyderabad techie working in Bengaluru had tested negative for the virus, Sriramulu handed over duties of addressing the press conference over the issue to Dr. Sudhakar, the Medical Education Minister. 

Dignitaries from Karnataka's political and film circles are expected to gather at the lavish ceremony to be hosted on Thursday.