INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
and many senior politicians seem to be leaving nothing to chance
Visits to temples and mutts or monasteries by BJP chief Amit Shah and Congress president have been frequent in the last couple of months
And now, it seems to be the turn of senior JD(S) leader and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.
On Wednesday, Mr Deve Gowda, 85, took a
helicopter ride to Sringeri taking along with him nomination papers, in all probability of his two sons, to seek the blessings of
Shankaracharya Bharati Tirtha Swami
team said the last visit was made 15 days ago
that has formed coalition governments with both the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka could play the role of a king maker if no party wins a
clear majority in the assembly polls due next month
Mr Deve Gowda's two sons -- former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna -- are contesting the assembly elections this time.
The
JD(S) is seen as a Vokkaliga-supported party with much of its strength in the southern part of the state where the Vokkaliga population is
Yeddyurappa at a temple in Shikaripura before filing his nomination
Earlier in the day, BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa
campaign, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had visited the Sringeri mutt last month and met the Shankaracharya.
That visit came nearly 40
years after his grandmother Indira Gandhi came there before contesting the Lok Sabha bypolls from Chikkamagaluru in 1978
Ms Gandhi won the byelection, reviving her political career after the Emergency.
