Karnataka Polls: Video of Siddaramaiah's ‘divine’ wish surfaces, goes viral

A video of a ‘divine’ wish on the contest by Siddaramaiah in two segments, has gone viral on the social media.

Congress MLA Dr Yathindra, son of Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah, had visited their family deity’s shrine at Chottnahalli in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district, last Saturday (January 7).

In the video, circulated on social media platforms, the ‘divine entity’ that possessed the priest of the temple is believed to have foretold Siddaramaiah’s defeat in Kolar. It has to be noted that Siddaramaiah, incumbent MLA of Badami in Bagalkot district, announced that he will contest the forthcoming Assembly election from Kolar, during a visit to Kolar, recently. Earlier, Siddaramaiah had said that he might contest from either Badami, Varuna, or Kolar and a final decision would be taken in this regard by the Congress high command.

Read | Karnataka: JD(S) walks extra mile in plan to defeat Siddaramaiah in Kolar

Siddaramaiah has contested eight elections from Chamundeshwari since 1983 and won five of them till 2006 bypolls. In 2008 and 2013, he represented the newly-formed Varuna constituency. The 2006 bypoll was a tough one, as he won with a narrow margin of 257 votes against Shivabasappa of the JD(S), supported by the BJP. He contested from both Chamundeshwari and Badami in 2018, allowing his son Dr Yathindra to contest from Varuna. Siddaramaiah was defeated by G T Devegowda of the JD(S), with a huge margin of 36,042 votes in Chamundeshwari. Even in Badami, Siddaramaiah won with a narrow margin of 1,696 votes, against B Sriramulu of the BJP.

It is believed that the ‘divine entity’ Adinadu Chikkamma Thayi of Chottnahalli said that Siddaramaiah should contest in two segments, in the upcoming election also. The priest, T Linganna, is believed to have been possessed by the ‘divine entity’.

“Your family has strong opponents. It is not enough to stretch your arm strength towards one direction. You should stretch your arms strength in two directions. If it is on one side, it will be a blunder. If you stretch your arms in both directions, I will ensure your victory. Do you know that I am your family deity? Ask your father to visit me once,” the ‘divine entity’ is believed to have said to Dr Yathindra.

Dr Yathindra is said to have reacted to queries of a few media persons and said that his father should consider contesting from Varuna as his second seat and that option is still there.

Former minister and KPCC vice-president P M Narendraswamy, who had accompanied Dr Yathindra to the temple, contradicted the reports and said that neither he nor Dr Yathindra took the incident seriously as the words of the priest was an advise to put all efforts, with both arms, for victory.