Kumaraswamy prays at Mysuru temple ahead of taking oath

Mysuru (Karnataka), May 23 (IANS) Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) legislative party leader H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday offered prayers to Hindu goddess Chamundeshwari at a hill temple ahead of taking oath as Karnataka’s 25th Chief Minister later in the day.

"Kumaraswamy flew into the city in a chopper from Bengaluru and drove up to the hill with wife Anita for Chamundeshwari’s blessings before taking oath as Chief Minster in the evening," a party official told IANS.

Clad in ivory colour silk robes, Kumaraswamy entered the sanctum sanctorum barefoot with wife and invoked the family deity’s blessings amid chanting of Vedic hymns and temple rituals.

The 58-year-old leader has been on a temple-hopping spree since Sunday after Governor Vajubhai Vala invited him on May 19 to form a JD-S-Congress coalition government following the fall of the three-day BJP government for want of a simple majority in a hung House.

"He returns to Bengaluru post-noon via Ramanagaram where he will stop over to visit the same goddess temple for her blessings," the official said.

After a round of temples in Bengaluru on Sunday, Kumaraswamy went to his home district of Hassan, about 180 km southwest of the state capital, where he prayed at the Ranganatha Swamy and Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temples.

The third son of former Prime Minister and JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy won from Ramanagaram and Channapatna segments in the May 12 Assembly election, about 30-40 km from Bengaluru.

The JD-S leader also visited his parents’ house in Bengaluru south and took the blessings of Gowda and mother Chennamma for becoming the Chief Minister for a second time.