MP seer's entombment plan for failed poll prediction thwarted

A Madhya Pradesh seer's plan to take "samadhi" (entombment) on Sunday afternoon following a failed Lok Sabha poll prediction was thwarted by constant police vigil in Bhopal.

After his prediction of Congress leader Digvijay Singh's victory from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat fell flat, Baba Vairagyanand Giri had written, through a lawyer, to Bhopal collector Tarun Kumar Pithode to allow him to take samadhi at 2:11pm on Sunday.

Pithode had denied the absurd request and had asked police to ensure nothing untoward took place.

Giri had, during a yagna in support of Singh, made the samadhi promise while predicting that the latter would win from Bhopal.

Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and multiple-time MP, was defeated by the BJP's Pragya Singh Thakur by a massive margin of over 3.64 lakh votes.

Giri, who returned from Kamakhya temple in Assam at 7:30am Sunday, could not venture out of his hotel premises due to the restraining presence of police, his advocate Majid Ali told PTI.

"I want to say publicly that the yagna failed. I respect the mandate of the people. I want to take samadhi as I could not pull off a victory for Digvijay Singh using yagna and other traditional means," Giri told reporters, claiming that he would "take samadhi for sure".

Incidentally, Giri, accused by his Niranjani Akhada of indulging in politics after predicting a win for Singh, was also expelled from the order.