Gowda Takes Chopper Ride With Wife to Get Election Forms 'Blessed' at 1,300-Year-Old Mutt

Bengaluru: For former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, the way to temporal power is through spiritual. The devout Hindu Gowda believes more in stars and planets than in mortal efforts to achieve political power. Gowda claims divine intervention has always helped him attain power.

In a ‘do-or-die’ battle for Karnataka, he seems to have invested more in gods than in his party candidates.

Gowda and his elder son and MLA HD Revanna, who is also a devout Hindu, are making the rounds of powerful temples with the nomination forms, seeking the blessings of the almighty.

The 85-year-old Gowda took a helicopter ride to Shringeri, one of the four Hindu monasteries founded by Adi Shankaracharya 1,300 years ago, on Wednesday. He and wife Chennamma were carrying the forms with them.

After a meeting with current pontiff Sri Bharathi Theertha Swamy, the couple offered special prayers at the Sharada Peetha, seeking blessing for party candidates and praying they bag more votes than the Congress and the BJP.

“He had carried the forms in a bag and had placed them at the feet of the Goddess. The couple prayed for an hour and performed special poojas. He believes that even if the candidates are not so strong, the stars and planets will help them. He is a firm believer in miracles of the god,” said one of his close aides who had accompanied him.

Speaking to News18, Gowda said he believed only in god and his powers. “The human beings have let me down all the time. So many people betrayed me. But god always came to my rescue. The divine power is protecting us and my party,” he said.

His son Revanna had travelled to Tirupati with the forms seeking the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara on Tirumala Hills. From Tirupati, he had travelled to Srirangam in neighbouring Tamil Nadu with the forms.

Speaking to News18, he said divine powers were backing the JD(S) in this election and “no power on earth” could defeat them.

Since voting is on a Saturday and counting is on a Tuesday, that too, on an Amavasya day, the Gowda family is pulling out all stops to get the gods and goddesses on their side in the battle for Karnataka. In the state, Saturdays and Tuesdays are considered inauspicious.

According to some JD(S) leaders, the Gowda family had sent horoscopes of some ticket aspirants to famous astrologers and tickets were given based on their planetary positions.

A few weeks ago, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also visited the Shringeri Mutt.