The BJP’s picks for the hot seats in Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have been busy the last couple of weeks thanking the gods. After taking oath as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mohan Yadav offered prayers at the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain. He had offered prayers before the oath-taking as well. Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai offered prayers at Jagannath temple in Raipur ahead of his swearing in. He visited the Ram Mandir in Raipur too, to pray for the all-round development of the state. Bhajan Lal Sharma, who is now chief minister of Rajasthan, offered prayers at the Govind Dev Temple in Jaipur. Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, his deputy CMs, also offered prayers. The victorious Revanath Reddy of the Congress also offered prayers, inside the Secretariat in Telangana.

Mahakal on the line

The veterans, however, have been doing the holy rounds for a while now. In November, before the elections, incumbent CM of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan also offered prayers at Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar temple. And before that, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath wrote to Lord Mahakal praying to him to get rid of the corrupt BJP government and promising to hold the first Cabinet meeting inside the temple if the Congress won. Incumbent Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot flagged off the 12-day Congress Guarantee Yatra with prayers at the Moti Dungri Temple. And the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje prayed at the Tripura Sundari temple in November and at Jaipur's Moti Dungri in December. The Congress was routed in Rajasthan, where the BJP won but Raje’s star was far from ascendant. And in MP, Chouhan won and still didn’t make it to the CM's chair for reasons known to Mahakal alone. If any of them did the temple run post election results and the final decision-making, it is not public knowledge.

Your will be done

The Congress’s Bhupesh Baghel, took a dip in the Kharun river on Kartik Purnima. His party lost Chhattisgarh. His predecessor, the BJP’s Raman Singh reportedly prayed at a gurdwara. KCR placed his nomination papers before the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Konaipally even as priests recited religious hymns. Earlier, he organised a three-day yagam for the “well-being of the state and his party’s victory”. Reportedly, two homams were performed for the preservation of the whole world. KCR lost and soon after results were declared, he suffered a fall and had to undergo a hip replacement procedure.