Crystal Ball/K N Rao

Deve Gowda will have to step down as prime minister

The Hindu New Year started on April 7. We in Delhi are witnessing a lion (Kesri) roaring at the landlord (Gowda). Everyone is wondering what will happen! I have already answered this question on December 28, in the article titled 'It is only the fallen that rise'.

Let me reproduce part of it here:

Hence, I will not make any prediction. But Mercury clearly indicates that the Congress has a good chance of forming the government at the centre. Further analysis of the horoscope show that manoeuvres will take shape by February 27. Till then, Prime Minister Deve Gowda can hope that the costly yagna he is performing will consolidate his position. But how is he sure that the gods will be pleased so easily? For the fall of the Deve Gowda government during the budget session and the rise of Congress are clearly visible. As they say in Delhi, 'It is only the fallen that rise.

It is also a battle of sevens. Prime Minister Deve Gowda lives at 7, Race Course, and Congress president Sitaram Kesri at 7, Purana Qila, which literally means 'old fort'. Kesri, who has always been always midway between a frontranker and backbencher, has excellent chances of becoming prime minister. This was something I had already predicted in December, despite the fact that I did not have the horoscope of either Kesri or Deve Gowda. The nation's horoscope indicates that the time has come for that odd political creature, the 13-legged government.

I am sure the present government will collapse. I had predicted that, after February 27, the Congress would create problems. The Congress behaved to pattern and I added a new word to my Urdu vocabulary - dasta-bardari (dast means hand and bardari means withdrawal. Dasta also means loose motions, which could be something the UF is presently suffering from).

Detailed analyses for the Hindu new year can be given later. But I would, for the present, like to make a reference to two very significant factors. Mars, the king of the year, is retrograde in lagna, which indicates a year of violence and epidemics. Sun, the prime minister of the year, is in the eighth house and is close to both Saturn and Venus. It definitely means change of prime ministers. Somewhere in all this, a mighty woman (Venus) is shaking the throne of the Prime Minister Deve Gowda.

Astrologically, the crucial dates in April are 11 (Venus transits), 15 (Mercury retrogrades) and 27 (Mars directs). It appears that some kind of compromise formula will emerge on April 11. As a result, Deve Gowda will find himself less shaky. However, the new year's horoscope shows a change of government. Hence, he will have to step down.

I don't know who will succeed him. But it is a strong astrological possibility that the Congress will dominate a coalition government at the Centre and achieve its three objectives -- of ousting Deve Gowda, averting a mid-term poll and preventing the BJP from capturing power. To achieve it, the party will remain divided internally but united outwardly.

Sharad Pawar will slowly forge ahead in his bid to outmanoeuvre Kesri. I could be more confident if I had Kesri's horoscope. Yet, looking at the Congress horoscope, I will give him an edge in this internal struggle.

The BJP still has an excellent chance since a couple of parties might be willing to team with them and form the government. Yet, it appears to be a case of reaching the threshold and not entering the hall of power.

Tell us what you think of this column