The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Thanking the divine Aspirants turn to the gods

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Thanking the divine Aspirants turn to the gods

Vani Doraisamy

CHECKING NAMES: AIADMK party men at the Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: Does a direct appeal to the divine guarantee a sure shot at party candidature for the coming Assembly elections? Going by the numbers of ticket hopefuls — of all party hues — who have been thronging places of worship in the past few days, it appears so.

Be it the Kapaleeswarar temple at Mylapore, the Parthasarathy temple at Triplicane, the Vadapalani Murugan temple, the Santhome church, the Thousand Lights mosque or the Big Mosque at Triplicane, the hopefuls have been making a beeline to seek divine sanction before filing applications with their respective party high commands.

"We receive at least 15 requests every day from party men or their supporters, though we do not have any special provisions for pooja for things such as these. However, they are generous with their offerings at the temple hundi," a priest at the Mylapore temple said.

Worship

The outpouring of worship seems to have cut across party barriers — at the Mylapore temple, for instance, members of Dravidian parties were as vociferous as their non-Dravidian counterparts in offering prayers.

And for those members of the AIADMK whose names have figured in the list released by the high command, it was an occasion for thanksgiving on Monday.

And nobody is complaining, certainly not the petty vendors around the places of worship.

"Election times are always good for us. The more the politicians spend, the better their fortunes seems to be the thinking," said a vendor near the Big Mosque.

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