11 year-wait: HDK fan to finally tonsure, shave beard

It is a big relief for family members of Ramakrishnegowda, a farmer from Meluru village in the taluk as JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy takes oath as the Chief Minister on Wednesday in Bengaluru.

Ramakrishnegowda, who had gone without a haircut and shaving for the last 11 years, will visit Kashi Vishvanath Temple in Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh and Chaluvanarayana Temple in Melkote after taking part in the oath taking ceremony of Kumaraswamy.

Later, he will get a tonsure done and a shaving as his wish would have been fulfilled.

Speaking to DH, he termed himself as a big fan of Kumaraswamy.

“During his 20-month stint as chief minister, which ended on November 8, 2007, he took up several schemes and projects for the welfare of the people. Then, I prayed at Yoganarasimhaswamy temple of Saligrama pleading the God to make Kumaraswamy as chief minister again,” he recalled.

“In February in 2013, when former prime minister H D Deve Gowda took part in the function to inaugurate the renovated Yoganarasimhaswamy temple at Saligrama, I met him. He advised me to have a haircut and to shave my beard. But, I asserted that I will not do so till my wish is fulfilled,” he said.