BS Yeddyurappa hops to Vaishno Devi seeking a divine bailout

Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, who is battling a political crisis, on Thursday flew to the revered cave shrine of Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir and offered prayers.

The visit was kept confidential. It did not figure in the chief minister’s official engagement list. After interacting with the public at his  home office Krishna in the morning, he headed to Delhi en route to Jammu.

After arriving in Jammu by a special fight, he boarded a copter to Sanjichat at 3 pm. From Sanjichat, the chief minister walked on a 2.5-km downhill track that leads to the holy shrine.
The BJP chief minister paid obeisance at the shrine around 4 pm. After a 30-minute stay at the shrine, where a special  prayer was held, he flew back to Jammu and then took a flight to Bangalore.

The shrine, which attracts more than 7.5 million pilgrims annually, is visited by top political leaders.

According to sources close to the chief minister, the sudden visit materialised after he sensed that events unfolding in New Delhi were not to his advantage. The UPA government’s efforts to evolve political consensus before acting on the governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj’s recommendation to impose president’s rule in the state made the chief minister believe that his days in power could be numbered.