KALABURAGI: It is not a village wedding, but you can be forgiven for thinking so. For the past few days, Herur is being decked up to receive an important visitor. Not a bridegroom, but the Chief Minister of Karnataka himself.

As part of his village stay programme, Kumaraswamy will be staying at Herur on Saturday night. With a population of 6,000, the village, which for the longest time didn’t have a motorable road, is getting one almost overnight.

The 4 km approach road is now being sanded with Murrum and road rollers are busy packing the soil to create a stretch along which Kumaraswamy can travel without much discomfort. According to Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner R Venkateshkumar, tenders for this were finalised before Herur’s name was announced by the CM’s team. “Now we are simply expediting the work,” he said.

Whatever it is, villagers are a happy lot. They are now preparing a list of woes that they hope to air before Kumaraswamy during his visit. The Government Higher Primary School, where the CM will stay for the night on Saturday, is also getting a facelift with machines busy at work levelling the school ground and 4 toilets, including a western one, are being built.

Meanwhile, officers of different departments have been visiting the village for the past three days to list out problems being faced by their offices in the village. This is to prepare for the inevitable questions that will come their way when the CM participates in a Janata Darshan meeting on Saturday.

According to Venkateshkumar, the Chief Minister will arrive at around 10 am on Saturday after having completed his first village stay at Chandarki village in Yadgir district on Friday. He will directly reach the ground near Hulikanteshwara temple where villagers are hoping to have a chance to talk directly with him and submit a memorandum. They will, however, have to register their names beforehand to seek an audience.

The public meeting will go on till 6 pm and district and state level officers will be in attendance. Besides Kumaraswamy, district-in-charge minister Priyank Kharge, MLA M.Y. Patil and senior officers will also participate and the group will have lunch at the venue.

Post 6 pm, the Chief Minister will speak to farmers from the village and witness cultural programmes to be presented by students from the village. He will then have dinner with them and on the menu are dishes like Khar Byali, Sengada Holige and other delectables from North Karnataka. The meals will be prepared by cooks who make mid-day meals for children daily.

Officials said that Kumaraswamy had asked for a simple mat to sleep on and keeping in line with his wishes, no cot or bed has been arranged. He will leave for Bengaluru on Sunday.

Festive atmosphere in Chandarki too

Chandarki in Yadgir district, which will host Kumaraswamy on Friday, is also enveloped in a festive atmosphere. The road from Hanuman temple to the Odammayee temple of the village deity is being cemented since Thursday as Kumaraswamy will travel this stretch en route to his janata darshan.