I have no political ambitions; won’t follow Yogi Adityanath’s path: Vokkaliga pontiff

Mandya, Aug 14: Sri Nirmalanandanath Swami, the pontiff of Sri Adichunchungiri mutt, has sent out a clear message to the political parties, saying that he did not nurse any political ambitions unlike Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adithyanath.

(Sri Nirmalanandanath Swami greets BJP National President Amit Shah at Adichunchungiri mutt in Mndya District on Sunday)

“This mutt is known for producing political leaders, including former PM H D Deve Gowda, chief ministers and ministers. We will not, at any cost, take Yogi Adityanath's path,” the pontiff, who presided over a function to release the biography on Sri Balagangadharnath Swami said. The biography was released by BJP national president Amit Shah.

With the BJP leadership setting a precedent by making pontiff Yogi Adityanath chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Shah choosing to visit Sri Adichunchangiri mutt, speculation was rife that the party is looking to try the same experiment in Karnataka, though the leadership has officially de clared B S Yeddyurappa its chief ministerial candidate.

Nirmalanandanath Swami tried to downplay Shah's visit to the mutt. "I had planned to invite Shah to the mutt and release the biography of Sri Balagangadharnath some two years ago. I decided to invite Shah since I wanted a politician who supports and respects spiritual institutions to release the book on my guru. To relate his visit to politics now is totally uncalled for," he said.

The seer said there is a vast difference between Sri Adichunchangiri mutt and the Gorakhnath Peeth of Yogi Adityanath, of which he is heir."Our mutt and Gorakhnath Peeth have a common history and follow the same philosophy but the only difference is they get involved in politics and nurse political ambitions, and we don't," he added.

The swami said the Gorakhnath temple and Balagangadharnath Swami's temple also practices and professes the Nath traditions. The founder of the BGS (Balagangadharnath Swami) temple, Balagangadharnath Swami's mentor Bhairavaikya Balagangadharnath and Yogi Adityanath's mentor Avaidyanath were close to each other. "Whenever we go to North India, we visit the Gorakhpur temple, and whenever Yogi Adityanath visits Karnataka, he comes to our temple. But we don't have anything to do with politics," he said.

Amit Shah took not more than 10 minutes to interact with select students from Balagangadharnath Swami Medical College. Shah, who was in a hurry after his public function at Sri Adichunchangiri mutt, told the students they are lucky to be studying in such an institution and asked them to make the best use of it."He did not take any questions from the students, who had prepared and were waiting since morning to interact with him. It was all over in 10 minutes," mutt sources said.