Prayed for state, says Yeddyurappa

MANGALORE: After receiving the rap from all sides, including his party, for taking his personal and political battles to the gods, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said he did not pray to Lord Manjunatha for himself, but for the state's prosperity. At Monday's high profile truth test at Dharmasthala, Yeddyurappa's beta noire H D Kumaraswamy, however, took the opportunity to take on his rival.
He called him names and prayed to the presiding deity to "teach a befitting lesson to those who meddle with lives of the poor". Later, at a rally in Ujire, he lashed out at the CM, describing him as vachana brashta (welsher). The Chief Minister left for the temple at the auspicious hour of 9.04 am from the guest house in a bus crammed with over 45 MLA, former MLAs and MPs and left for Subrahmanya at 12.30 pm. "He spent over an hour at the temple and offered rudrabhisheka pooja," Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade said.