Of 5 yogis given MoS status, two likely...

It is no coincidence that Computer Baba (Swami Namdev Tyagi) and Yogendra Mahant were planning to crisscross the state and take out a 'Narmada Ghotala Rath Yatra' from April 1. Needless to say, the yatra has been called off.

Detractors see in this sudden fondness for godmen Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s clever gambit to stall attempts to rake up alleged corruption in the Narmada conservation campaign.

The state government launched a hugely hyp-ed plantation drive along the river. As many as seven crore saplings were reportedly planted on both sides of Narmada during the "Seva Yatra" in a bid to create the world record of maximum plantation in 12 hours. Both sadhus had alleged a scam in this mammoth exercise. The special status, critics said, was aimed at placating them.

According to media reports, Computer Baba had created a flutter in 2013 when he asked Kumbh Mela authorities to allow him to arrive in a helicopter and take a dip in the river; he had claimed this would help him serve the cause of river conservation better.

Narmada is the lifeline of central Madhya Pradesh and flows through 96 of the 230 Assembly constituencies. Whatever the motivation, the appointments had caught the Congress unawares. Congress leader Raj Babbar said in Delhi: "They want to use these saffron-robed babas to win elections. They should draw a lesson from what happened when they made a saffron-robed priest a Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh."