Besides the customary trip to Vokkaliga mutts, chief minister Kumaraswamy also visited mutts belonging to the Lingayats, the other major community in Karnataka.
Bengaluru: Eleven temples, four Lingayat and Vokkaliga mutts, a church and a mosque. Karnataka chief minister and JD(S) chief H.D. Kumaraswamy, who faces a trust vote Thursday after a bitter election season, has been knocking on one heavenly door after another since the governor invited him to form the government four days ago.
The Gowdas are known to be a religious family that organises pujas all over south India, but even their acquaintances are a bit surprised by the number of religious sites Kumaraswamy’s elder brother H.D. Revanna has taken him to this week.
The visits included a customary one to the Vokkaliga mutt, Adichunchanagiri, besides those to the Lingayat mutts of Suttur and Siddaganga. Headed by the 111-year old Shivakumara Swamiji, Siddaganga is known to be among the more powerful Lingayat mutts.
Just before his swearing-in ceremony Wednesday, Kumaraswamy and his wife Anitha visited the Chamundeshwari temples in Ramnagaram and Mysuru, with the CM also paying obeisance at the famous shrines in Sringeri and Dharmasthala in Karnataka, and Srirangam in Tamil Nadu. Visits to Our lady Of Lourdes church in Bengaluru and the Manqabat-e-Hazrat Peeran Shah Wali mosque in Ramanagaram followed.
Of the 11 temples that Kumaraswamy visited, five were in his birthplace, Holenarasipura, where he performed a puja to thepanchbhootas, or the five elements, after Revanna insisted it would ensure he had a good run in the chief ministerial office.
Bid to please the stars, and voters
There was the desire to seek their blessings, but Kumaraswamy’s visits to Lingayat mutts was also an attempt to pacify members of the community left seething by the previous administration’s recommendation for a separate religion tag for them.
The Congress, an alliance partner in Kumaraswamy’s government, faced a massive backlash from the Lingayats on the minority tag issue. It was seen by many as a bid to divide the Hindus — a point also raised by the BJP during the election campaign — and led to a consolidation of Lingayat votes against former CM Siddaramaiah and the Congress. Many observers believe that this was the reason the party couldn’t get a simple majority in the 12 May election and was reduced to 78 MLAs in a House of 224 (Elections so far have been held for 222 seats, the remaining two will vote on May 28 and June 11).
At the head of the coalition government, Kumaraswamy faces the huge task of not just winning over Lingayat voters, but also pacifying the elected representatives from the community, largely from the Congress, to preclude a possible revolt to bring down his government. The JD(S) won just 37 seats in the election.
Asked how he would handle the distrust stoked by the Lingayat issue, Kumaraswamy had said, “…I am open to all sorts of discussion. Those who have an issue, this Vidhan Soudha is open to them and we can sit and discuss how to resolve it.”
Bhagwan bharose sarkari Bani hai khus to rakhna padega