Picks H.D. Kumaraswamy among photos of Basavaraj Bommai, D.K. Shivakumar

Mandya: Many astrologers have shot to fame claiming to predict the political fortunes of leaders in the past. This fame comes even as rationalists claim that astrology is being used to defraud gullible people by pushing them into blind superstition.

Karnataka has always been a hotbed for political activity and this time is no different. Astrologers have made their predictions and now a dog has joined the fray. With the voting is just a few days away, the question on everyone’s mind is who will emerge victorious and become the next Chief Minister.

Amidst the speculation, an unlikely source has made a prediction — a dog in Mandya. The prediction says that H.D. Kumaraswamy will become the CM.

The dog, Bhairava, is owned by Gopi of Ashoknagar in Mandya and is said to have a track record of accurate predictions for the past two years. Bhairava was given the photos of Basavaraj Bommai, H.D. Kumaraswamy and D.K. Shivakumar. The dog picked up Kumaraswamy’s photo and reportedly declared him as the future Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Interestingly, Gopi is an ardent devotee of Kalabhairava and every Monday, he goes to the Temple to perform pujas with his family. He has even named his pet Bhairava after the Lord. According to Gopi, his dog has extraordinary powers and days before actor Puneeth Rajkumar died, Bhairava used to hold Puneeth’s photo in its mouth, indicating something unfortunate would happen.

“A few days back, my mother was admitted to a hospital and the doctors had told us not to have any hopes. But Bhairava went to my mother and licked her face twice. After this, her health improved by 65 percent,” Gopi said.

We all know about Paul, the octopus that became a global sensation with his accurate match predictions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Kept at an aquatic life centre in Germany, Paul was presented with two food boxes — marked with two team flags — and the one he ate from was considered his prediction for the game. Paul made four accurate predictions, out of six and all were for games involving Germany.

While it remains to be seen whether Bhairava’s prediction will come true like Paul, it has certainly added an interesting twist to the election campaign.