With poll results in a week, Andhra politicians flock to temples

With just a week left for the declaration of results of the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, leaders of the two main political parties -- the Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress are flocking to temples and conducting special prayers seeking divine blessings for their respective parties to come to power.

The elections to 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state were held on April 11 and the results would be declared along with the general election results on May 23.

On Thursday, popular film actor and YSRC star campaigner Prithviraj got his head tonsured to offer his hair to Lord Venkateshwara of the Tirumala temple in Chittoor district, seeking victory for the party in the polls. He trekked the seven hills on the previous day and participated in Sahasra Kalasabhisekham and Kalyanotsavam pujas of Tirumala, before the darshan of the Lord.

“I prayed to the Lord to bless YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy with power to provide good governance to the state. I strongly believe that the people have given the mandate to Jagan to establish a welfare state and work for the downtrodden,” he said.

Last week, senior TDP leader and contestant for the Narsaraopet Lok Sabha seat Rayapati Sambasiva Rao performed Satha Chandi Yagam and Maha Sudershana Yagam for three days at the ancient Bugga Malleswara Swamy temple at Morjampadu in Machavaram block of Guntur district.

The yagam concluded on Monday with chief Vedic pundit Ch Srinivasa Sarma, along with senior pundits performing the concluding ritual “poornahuti.” On Wednesday, Rao came to Amaravati to present the offerings of the yagam to TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The MP told reporters that he had sought diving blessings for TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu to enable him to continue as the chief minister for a second term and work for the development of the state. “The people of the state need Naidu’s leadership once again to complete the unfinished agenda of constructing the capital city of Amaravati. I prayed for prosperity and wealth for the people and a victory for the TDP,” he said.

The leaders of both the parties are also making a beeline for astrologers to know their fate. Interestingly, the astrologers are divided in their opinion in predicting the victory of the parties.

Naishadham Sivarama Sastry, a Vijayawada-based popular astrologer and Vaastu expert, predicted that Naidu would definitely return to power for a second term. “According to my calculations, the TDP will win 112 assembly seats, whereas YSR Congress party will win 58 seats and the Jana Sena Party headed by actor Pawan Kalyan would win the remaining five seats,” he said, in a recent debate on a Telugu television channel.

Sastry said he was ready to face a challenge from anyone on his predictions. “If I am proved wrong, I will give up practising astrology,” he said. On the other hand, Murapaka Kalidasa Sarma, a prominent astrologer of Parvathipuram in Vizianagaram district, is pretty confident that Jagan would become the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. “All the planets are in favour of the YSRC president to occupy the throne,” he said.

What is more, Sarma has even fixed the auspicious muhurtham for Jagan’s swearing-in ceremony. “The birth star of Jagan is Arudra and the ideal time for him to take oath is 9.29 am on May 26 (Sunday). This muhurtham falls on Bahula Sapthami with Dhanistha star and Karkataka Lagnam. Since this has the favourable look of Guru (Brihaspati) planet, it is ideal for him to take oath as the chief minister,” he said.

In the last week of March, YSRC workers led by party’s Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy performed a three-day ritual, known as Raja Syamala Yagam (a havan which used to be performed by kings before going on wars) at a private place in Nellore district under the auspices of Sri Visakha Sarada peetham seer Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswati with 27 Ritviks.

Jagan Mohan Reddy is a devout Christian, but for the last couple of years, he has been regularly visiting temples and religious mutts and taking blessings from spiritual people.