Bidar: It’s not only Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy , who is undertaking a whirlwind tour of various temples within and outside the state to pay obeisance to various deities, other ministers in this state government are doing it as well.
On Sunday, Minister for Cooperation Bandeppa Kashempur left his native place Bidar for Tulajapur in neighbouring Maharashtra on a bicycle to fulfil his vow. Tulajapur, which is about 200 km from Bidar by road, is famous for the Ambabhavani Temple, which is the 51st Shaktipeetha in the country.
It will take Mr Kashempur three days to reach Tulajapur on Hunname Divas on October 24. On the way, he will rest at Basavakalyana and Naladurga in Maharashtra in the night.Thousands of devotees undertake padayatra to visit the place on Hunname Divas.
Speaking to this newspaper before commencing his journey from the Ram Temple near his residence in Bidar City at 8am, Mr Kashempur said that this would be his third visit to Tulajapur on bicycle. “I began this in 2004 when I won the polls for the first time. I did this again in 2008. This is my third visit”, he said adding he undertakes this journey only when he gets elected.
What is notable is that Mr Kashempur has been undertaking the journey on the same bicycle, which his wife bought for him for Rs 22,500 in 2004. “It’s my wife who inspired to visit the temple,” Mr Kashempur said.
More than one hundred people are accompanying him on the journey. Asked whether the journey would be strainful, Mr Kashempur said, “thousands of people undertake padayatras. Compared to them, mine is not a very big yatra. Ambabhavani Maate gives me the strength to endure and undertake it”.
