CHIKKAMAGALURU: Invincible statesman Atal Behari Vajpayee had a special place in his heart for the beautiful Malnad district and temple town Sringeri. His passing away has left the citizens in deep sorrow and mourning.
Former PM Vajpayee visited Chikkamagaluru twice – in 1977 and then in 1991. After the emergency, declared by Indira Gandhi was called off, several non-Congress parties including the Janata Party were floated in 1977. Vajpayee came here to campaign for B L Subbamma who contested on a Janata Party ticket from Chikkamagaluru assembly constituency.
Loved among party workers, Vajpayee proceeded to Aldur and then to Mudigere to seek votes in favour of another candidate Saganaiah, whom he fondly called “a man of virtues”.
On April14, 1991, he visited Sringeri to have a darshan of deity Sharadamba and twin Jagadgurus. He invoked Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekara Bharatheetheerta swamiji to bless him, so that he could “take the country on the path of progress”. The seer heartily blessed him.