In Bhopal's Digvijaya-Pragya war, it's now havan vs havan

BHOPAL: It’s havan vs havan in battlefield of Bhopal. A force of 5,000 sadhus under Computer Baba has arrived to campaign for Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh and hold yajnas for his victory. To counter this, BJP candidate Pragya Thakur also performed havan and offered prayers to mark Parashuram Jayanti and Akshaya Tritiya.
Temple committees supporting both the candidates have added to the frenzy.
On Tuesday, scores of saffronclad sadhus, led by Namdev Tyagi aka Computer Baba, descended on the city to seek votes for Digvijaya. Namdev, once a BJP sympathizer, has switched to the opposite camp and is praying for a Congress win.
Digvijaya Singh and his wife Amrita Rai Singh also present on this occasion. (TOI photo by A Moeed Faruqui)
Computer Baba called Pragya a ‘scapegoat of big BJP leaders’, and the BJP candidate hit back by taking a dig at his ‘Hatha Yoga’ — a reference to Congress’s hand symbol.
Sadhus from across the country are likely to camp in Bhopal for the next three days in a show of support for the Congress candidate. They undertook Hath Yoga in the day, and Digvijaya — clad in a spotless white kurta — and his wife Amrita Singh joined in.

Computer Baba sat within a circle of fire — amid the searing 40-degree heat — with a bowl of burning coals on his head to pray for Digvijaya’s victory. "Hath Yoga is important as it signifies austerity," he said. Asked if the rituals were to seek divine intervention for Digvijaya’s victory, he said, without naming Digvijaya, "The saints prayed to God that the person who is treading the path of religion and one who has served the river Narmada and saints should win handsomely." Digvijaya completed the 3,500kilometre-long Narmada Parikrama last year on foot — a feat very few have achieved.
Pragya Singh Thakur takes part in havan on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya in Bhopal on Tuesday. (TOI photo by Rajeev Sarathe)
Computer Baba and his team of sadhus will organize a road show in support of Digvijaya on Wednesday. Asked about Pragya Thakur, he said "one cannot become a sadhvi (saint) merely by wearing saffron robes". And asked about Computer Baba, Pragya replied: "This doesn’t matter to us. We are working for the nation."

Awadheshpuri Maharaj, chairman of Simhastha Coordination Committee and former general secretary of Akhara Parishad, Ujjain, threw his weight behind Pragya. "The religious show by Computer Baba is frivolous and irrelevant. Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh will gain nothing from this drama. It's unfortunate that Digvijaya has resorted to this to mislead and misuse Hindu religion and saints for personal political gain," said Awadheshpuri Maharaj.
Pragya offered prayers at Parashuram temple in Shivaji Nagar and blessed newly-weds at several weddings on Akshaya Tritiya.