Rahul Gandhi Lands in Karnataka and His First Port of Call is a Temple. Again

Bengaluru: Congress president Rahul Gandhi landed in Mysore on Saturday morning and without wasting much time took off for Chamundeshwari temple atop the Chamundi hills.

His two-day tour of South Karnataka has begun with the darshan of Chamundeshwari or Bhuvaneshwari, the prime deity of the Mysore kings and a symbol of Kannada pride.

Just four days ago, Rahul Gandhi had toured coastal districts of Udupi and Mangalore.

He had visited Gokharnatha temple at Mangalore, Saint Rozario Church and Ullal Dargah on the same day.

The next day he took a helicopter ride to Sringeri Sharada Peetha founded by Adi Shankaracharya some 1300 years ago. It is the first Hindu monastery founded by Shankaracharya.

The Gandhi family has an old connection with the temple and Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were the followers of Sringeri mutt. Together they had visited it more than a dozen times.

For Rahul Gandhi, it was more like a personal visit to the holy place so dear to his grandmother and father.

He had a private audience with the current pontiff Sri Bharathi Theertha Swamy for about 30 minutes and later spent an hour at the temple.

During his Hyderabad-Karnataka region tour, he had visited Huligemma temple in Bellary, Gavi Siddeshwara Mutt in Koppal, paid a visit to Lingayat seer Dr. Sharanabasappa Appa in Gulbarga. He had also visited Kwaza Bade Nawaz dargah in Gulbarga and Lingayat religion founder Basavanna established Anubhava Mantapa at Basava Kalyana near Bidar.

Two weeks later he toured Lingayat dominated Mumbai-Karnataka region for three days.

Once there, he visited the famous Yellamma temple at Savadatti in Belgaum district. He also paid a visit to Murusaavira Mutt at Hubli and Kudalasangama in Bagalkote district.

To avoid being branded as the one who visits only the Hindu temples and seers, Rahul Gandhi took sometime off to pay a visit to a over 100-year-old Church in Hubli-Dharwad.

The Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa has riduculed Rahul Gandhi's temple run calling him an "Election time Hindu".

The chief minister Siddaramaiah has hit back at Yeddyurappa calling BJP a party which takes Hindus for ride using them to win elections. He said, "BJP has done nothing for the Hindus. It wants their votes. That's it".

During Gujarat Assembly polls, Rahul had visited close to 20 temples triggering a heated debate on social media.

Will Rahul Gandhi's temple run across Karnataka pay rich dividends? Only the election results will confirm that.

(Photos by special arrangement)