TIMES OF INDIA
09 May 2010, Bangalore

VOTERS RALLY BEHIND NITYANANDA
What has the tainted self-styled godman, Swami Nityananda, got to do with the GP elections? Nothing one would say, until one realized the stark change in the stand of the electorate at several gram panchayats at Bidadi under which the controversial seer’s Dhyanapeetam ashram falls. As polling began on Saturday, a number of villagers arrived at the booths and raised slogans in support of the swami just before voting. Earlier, the same villagers had raised nasty slogans and had torn his cutouts outside the ashram after his sexual misdemeanors were beamed on various television channels.

“We are least bothered about what he did in Tamil Nadu or elsewhere. But here he has lived like a true seer. We also don’t know what was his association with the actress (Ranjitha) but none of our women here had any complaints against him,’’ said Shekar Gowda, a supporter of candidate contesting Hithamadu gram panchayat.

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