JOIN USHundreds of sadhus trooped to the Madhya Pradesh capital on Tuesday to seek votes for the Congress Lok Sabha candidate Digvijaya Singh and campaign against BJP nominee Pragya Singh Thakur.
Led by Namdev Tyagi alias Computer Baba, they will camp in Bhopal for three days.
Computer Baba was bestowed minister of state status by the then BJP-led government in Madhya Pradesh and appointed on a panel to clean the Narmada.
"BJP sarkaar 5 saal mein Ram Mandir bhi nahi bana paayi. Ab Ram Mandir nahi toh Modi nahi." (BJP remained in power for five years but it failed to construct Ram Temple, so when there is no Ram Mandir then there should be no Narendra Modi too.)," the Baba said.
The self-styled godman, who was recently appointed chairman of a river trust by the Congress government in the state, extended his support to Digvijaya Singh, the Congress' Bhopal Lok Sabha seat candidate.
"They (BJP) have fooled people. They have not even spared the saint community. They talked of Ram temple, they have not constructed it in five years and have come back with the same issue. The public won't be fooled now. No temple, no Modi," he told reporters here.
Asked if the ritual was to pray for Singh's victory, he said, "The saints prayed to God that the person who is treading the path of religion, the one who served the river Narmada and saints is Digvijaya Singh, and should win by lakhs of votes."
Asked about Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon blast case, he said one cannot become a sadhvi (saint) merely by wearing a robe.
At the ritual, Digvijaya Singh was seen dressed in a white kurta-pyjama and seated on the ground, while the sadhus formed a semi-circle near him.