The much hyped visit of Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa became a literal damp squib, as it was pouring cats and dogs when he arrived at the shrine of Manjunatheshwara in the temple town of Dharmasthala.
He was escorted into the temple by the temple authorities with the family trustee Harshendra Kumar leading the way. Senior colleagues in the cabinet including Dr VS Acharya, Renukacharya, V Somanna and 20 MLAs including Anand Asnotikar accompanied the chief minister.
“I have not asked lord Manjunatha anything for myself but to lead my state and its people into prosperity and peace, this year and the next I will concentrate on the development of the state and make efforts to bring the state to the No 1 position in the country in terms of financial stability as well as development. By the grace of Lord Manjunatha the rains have been good this year so far and I wish my farmer friends will reap a good harvest for the state as well as for themselves,” said Yeddyurappa addressing a press conference.
Even as the chief minister arrived, a large group of people had started raising slogans against him, waving waving green fabric indicating that they were from the Raitha Sangha.
Today being Monday (the day when Shiivas offer special prayers to the various forms of lord Shiva including Munjunatha — the presiding deity of Dharmasthala) was bustling with devotees right from 5am when the temple opens for public darshan.
Dharmasthala being one of the major centres of the Shiiva sect sees devotees from all over the country and today too, the devotees had come from far flung places like Haridwar, Varanasi, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They were standing in the queue since morning 5am but they were prevented from the entering the temple at least 30 minutes before the chief minister’s entourage entered the temple. Women, children and old folk were also inconvenienced.
Yeddyurappa and his colleagues were received by the dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala Dr D Veerendra Heggade, who gave them prasadam and left them alone to pray.
Circles close to chief minister told DNA that he only offered a personal prayer to lord Manjunatha, stood in front of the sanctum sanctorum with folded hands, closed eyes and recited some stotrams (verses).
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