It may sound weird, but even as bad blood flooded the BJP banks in Karnataka, the state’s top politicians were busy propitiating the serpent god. It all began with chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa seeking an appointment with the lord of the serpents at the Kukke Subramanya temple near Mangalore immediately after the crisis broke. The very next day, the elder of the rival Reddy brothers, Karunakar, was seen doing the needful after a serpent “entered” his official residence—not particularly a good omen. Even as the two rivals were invoking counter-strategies to charm the serpent lord, it was reported that H.D. Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy too were getting rid of a ‘serpent curse’. A huge ‘homa’ (fire ritual) was on, with nearly a hundred priests engaged near Chennai. Still, while these three men were securing their futures, Congressmen, complacent as ever, were still curled up in their burrows. So are the snake gods mad, is this all an allegory for the current political state of being in Bengaluru? Only the lord can answer that one. |