Party-hired pundits toe political line

Come “Ugadi”,  Telugu New Year’s Day, the faithful look forward to “Panchang Shravanam” (Almanac Reading) by Vedic pundits who provide a glimpse of what is in store for the general public in the year ahead.

However, the traditional almanac reading sessions have now acquired political overtones with astrologers and pundits offering customised political prediction to suit parties who hire them for the occasion.

With clouds of political uncertainty hovering over the state, this year’s “Panchang Shravanam” turned out to be a “tailor-made” exercise played out in the offices of various political parties. It was virtually “all things to all people” as the in-house astrologers drafted-in by the parties dished out forecasts that would please the ears of their benefactors.

The politicisation of almanac reading assumed significance in the wake of the recent by-elections to seven Assembly seats in which the Congress and the TDP drew a blank.

Voters in Telangana region gave an unambiguous verdict in favour of the statehood sentiment while the fledgling YSR Congress Party, headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, won Kovvur in coastal Andhra with a thumping majority.

Notwithstanding the growing infighting in the ruling Congress, the head of the astrology department at Telugu University Dr CVV Subrahmanyam, hired by the government, assured the gathering at the main function here that all was well with the state.

He also predicted that the state would remain united. This was in sharp contrast to what V Damodara Sarma, the pundit who read out the almanac at the TRS office, had to say about the immediate future. He told a gathering at TRS headquarters that the Telangana sentiment would grow further in the days to come and that a favourable announcement on creation of new state could come after May this year.

“TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao will have everything going for him from May 16, 2012, to May 2013,” the pundit declared.

“The welfare schemes initiated by the state and Central governments will yield desired results and people will again repose faith in these governments,” the official pundit asserted. However, K Padmanabha Sarma, said: “There will be severe drought and farmers will suffer. The prices will sky-rocket and there will be a financial crunch for the welfare schemes,” he said.