YSR Cong seeks divine intervention for Reddy
With just around 20 months left for the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress party is on an overdrive to invoke the pantheon of Hindu gods so that its leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy can wrest power from the Telugu Desam Party and become chief minister.
The YSR Congress has embarked on a massive ‘havan’ to appease the Hindu gods for its victory in 2019 polls. Organised by party general secretary Aarimalla Varaprasad Reddy, the havan began at Snehapuri Colony on the outskirts of Hyderabad on July 29 with party’s official spokesman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy taking ‘sankalpam’ (vow) on behalf of the party president.
“The yagam will conclude only after the completion of the election process in 2019. So, it is going to be a non-stop marathon yagam for more than 20 months. The main objective is to seek the divine blessings for Reddy to become the chief minister, besides the welfare of the people of the state,” Varaprasad Reddy told Hindustan Times.
As many as nine Ritwiks (Vedic scholars) under the auspices of renowned priest Nallapeddi Siva Rama Prasad Sarma went to the residence of Jagan a few days ago to bless him with divine powers to win the next elections.
The ongoing homam is considered to be the longest such Vedic rituals performed by any political leader or party. In December 2015, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao performed Ayutha Chandi Yagam at his farmhouse in Erravelli village in then Medak district (now Siddipet district) for 15 days, which attracted nation-wide attention.
Reddy, however, refused to divulge the expenditure being incurred on the marathon yagam for the success of Jagan. And in line with the party’s quest for divine help, Jagan and his family seem to have set aside their Christian faith and have started following Hindu rituals.