Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy has been visiting various temples in the State and outside ever since B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned on Saturday and his own chances of making it to the post became clear.
In the six months preceding the Assembly elections, Mr. Kumaraswamy and in particular his father and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda left virtually no prayer or ritual alone for the electoral success of the party — from visiting temples and mutts, to meeting pontiffs and performing pujas and yagnas. However, to close observers of Karnataka politics, it comes as no surprise.
In January 2018, Mr. Deve Gowda performed the Ati Rudra Maha Yaga — lasting 11 days and considered as the highest such vedic ritual, at the Sri Sharada Peetham in Sringeri. Sources in the JD(S) argued that “it was this yaga that catapulted the party to the forefront of power in Karnataka and Mr. Kumaraswamy to becoming the Chief Minister.” Even on Tuesday, the senior and junior Gowdas visited Sringeri to take part in another havan called the Nava Chandika Yaga and sought the blessings of the Sringeri mutt seer. And from Sringeri, he touched the Manjunatha temple in Dharmasthala.
Mr. Kumaraswamy launched his election campaign, called Kumara Parva, from Chamundeshwari temple in Mysuru. As if in answer to his invocation, party veteran G.T. Deve Gowda humbled State Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari constituency with a huge margin of around 30,000 votes. Even as the results were pouring in of a hung verdict, the Congress, with more seats in its kitty, extended unconditional support to the JD(S) and offered the Chief Minister’s post to him. Soon after Mr. Yeddyurappa resigned in the face of a majority deficit, Mr. Kumaraswamy visited the Adichunchanagiri Mutt in Vijayanagar in the city and sought the blessings of its head Nirmalanandanatha Swami on Saturday.
On the same day, Mr. Deve Gowda conducted a yaga at his residence and left for Tirumala to offer prayers to its deity Venkateshwara.
With the Governor inviting him to take oath as the 30th Chief Minister, Mr. Kumaraswamy along with his wife Anitha dashed to the Ranganatha temple in Srirangam in Tamil Nadu.
On Monday, the JD(S) State president visited Lakshmi Narasimha and Shiva temples in his hometown Holenarsipur. His elder brother and Holenarsipur MLA H.D. Revanna accompanied him.
The Gowda family is known to leave nothing to chance. And so, on the sage advice of his big brother, a few rituals to invoke good luck were conducted on the footsteps of the Vidhana Soudha, where Mr. Kumaraswamy is scheduled to take oath as Chief Minister on Wednesday.
Admitting that he is a firm believer in rituals and prayers, just as his father and the rest of his family, Mr. Kumaraswamy said his prayers were for divine grace on his new government as it had to fulfil people’s aspirations. They were also for good rains and bountiful harvest for the State’s farmers, and nothing for personal gain, he emphasised. He is set to visit Chamundeshwari temple on Wednesday morning.
