Candidates seek divine aid

It's great the gods don't vote and are not selective in their affections. On Friday, Mumbai's Lok Sabha candidates across party lines, were busy wooing the Almighty.
Although BJP war-horse Ram Naik, who is contesting from Mumbai North, isn't given to temple-hopping, his chief campaign manager and BJP corporator Yogesh Sagar is touring Badrinath, Kedarnath and Kashi.Shiv Sena's Mohan Rawle trekked to Kolhapur, Sholapur and his hometown for parleys with gods. On Saturday, Rawle will visit temples before reaching the counting centre, said aide Meenar Natalkar. Sena's Gajanan Kirtikar went to hometown Dapoli in Konkan this week to pray at a family shrine, said Man Friday Prasad Joshi. He will visit the Swaminarayan temple at Dadar on Saturday.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray shepherded party candidates to the Ekveera Devi temple, the Thackeray khandaan's deity, at Karla on Thursday. MNS candidate Bala Nandgaonkar's wife is said to have taken a vow not to wear chappals till her husband enters the Lok Sabha. Nandgaonkar is contesting from Mumbai South.
Congress' Sanjay Nirupam will begin Saturday with a visit to Siddhivinayak. "I visited the shrine when my candidature was cleared by the high command,'' Nirupam said.
Sena's Suresh Gambhir has Siddhivinayak, Seetaladevi temple and the Baba Maqdoom dargah at Mahim on his list. Added Bansi Mehta of the BJP, "Gods alone can help us as polling here was shockingly low.''
Other preferred more mundane pursuits. BSP's Mumbai south candidate Mohammed Ali and BJP's Kirit Somaiya from Mumbai North-East were busy with wedding receptions of friends and supporters. Somaiya also took his wife to a movie, a satire, `Dillit Gondhal, Gallit Mujra'. Congress' Priya Dutt was "thanking" voters at her party office. Milind Deora cleared pending files and prayed at the in-house temple.
For BJP's Mahesh Jethmalani, Friday was like "any other day''. Ditto with NCP's Sanjay Patil. "Party workers and friends seem more tense than me,'' he stated.
SP candidate Abu Azmi monitored training of 90 counting agents on Friday. "It was almost like a corporate training programme,'' said party spokesperson Abdul Qadir Chaudhary.