Sree Peetham seer Swami Paripoornanda meets Amit Shah, triggers speculation

Hyderabad: Sree Peetham seer Swami Paripoornanda on Monday met BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi triggering speculations that he would soon join the BJP and the party would announce him as the CM candidate for Telangana Assembly elections and project him as the “Yogi Adityanath of Telangana”.

Swami Paripoornananda had a closed-door meeting with Mr Shah and discussed with him the political situation in Telangana.

It is learnt that the BJP national leadership has been looking for a prominent face for the party in Telangana to face Assembly polls and wants the Swami to lead the party. The party wants to project him as Yogi Adityanath of Telangana, to galvanise Hindus and also to counter the MIM. After the meeting, Swami said, “I will disclose my future course of action after Dasara navaratri festival. I will work as per the directions of Amit Shah.”

Recently, the Swami expressed his interest in joining politics, given a chance. He said there was a possibility of him joining the BJP, provided he got an offer.

“If they want me to join the party, they will choose and invite me. But I cannot run after the party with requests,” he said.

Sources said the BJP national leadership was not happy with the weak leadership in Telangana and wants to consolidate its base by roping in the Swami and also to counter the MIM in Telangana.