Political ego clash on display at Dharmasthala

There is heavy bandobast at Dharmasthala, a temple town in Karnataka, for a different kind of politics expected to be played out on Monday.

Former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy will swear before Lord Manjunatha, the presiding deity at Dharmasthala, that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had in fact tried to buy peace with him in relation to charges of corruption.

Security has been beefed up and temple authorities are making all possible preparations to ensure that the event passes off peacefully.

The real devotees at Dharmasthala will, however, be put to discomfort.

Yeddyurappa, who had also stated that he would swear before the Lord that Kumaraswamy was lying has decided not to go ahead with the programme.

Instead, he will perform a prayer at Dharmasthala on Monday.

Yeddyurappa had been told by the party high command not to mix God and politics.

However, Yeddyurappa stated that since he had already decided to go to Dharmasthala it would not look good if he cancelled his programme. Instead, he would go there and offer prayers, he said.

A face-off between the two leaders at Dharmasthala is unlikely, as Kumaraswamy is scheduled to be at the premises around 11 am while Yeddyurappa will be offering prayers much later.

Although this event is not expected to have any political impact, observers say that this is more of an ego battle.

Kumaraswamy will use this as a political tool and tell the people about how he kept his promise and the manner in which Yeddyurappa failed.

In fact, after the chief minister decided not to swear before the Lord, Kumaraswamy has already been saying that he is morally right. He also said that he was on a higher scale when compared to Yeddyurappa.