Bhopal, Sep 21 (IANS): Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath visited Bageshwar Dham, a famous religious place in the Chhatarpur district in the state on Saturday and met the head priest Dhirendra Shastri.

The veteran Congress leader performed puja with rituals at Lord Hanuman's temple. He also met Bageshwar Dham chief and spiritual storyteller Dhirendra Shastri, who is popularly known as 'Bagheshwar Dham Sarkar'.

"I found an opportunity to offer my prayer of Lord Hanuman. There has always been a divine and supernatural feeling at Bageshwar Dham," Kamal Nath said.

However, it is not the first time the veteran Congress leader visited Bageshwar Dham, whose head priest Dhirendra Shastri is an advocate of Hindutva.

The preachings of Dhirendra Shastri are often laced with controversial statements and demands for the establishment of Hindu Rashtra.

Kamal Nath along with his son and former Chhindwara MP Nakul Nath had visited Bageshwar Dham and had sought his blessings ahead of the Assembly elections held in November last year.

Following this, Shastri did a four-day 'katha' (spiritual discourse) in Kamal Nath's pocket borough Chhindwara. Kamal Nath, who was leading the Madhya Pradesh Congress unit during the Assembly elections, has adopted the ideology of soft Hindutva.

However, a section within the MP Congress then objected to it, especially when the 'Hanuman Chalisa' path was organised at every Congress office in the state.

During the Assembly election, Kamal Nath's team made an effort to present his image as a devotee of Lord Hanuman. Kamal Nath had installed the over 101-foot tall idol of Lord Hanuman in Simariya 15 years ago, believed to be the tallest at that time in the country.

Notably, Kamal Nath, who witnessed humiliating defeat in the back-to-back electoral battles against the ruling BJP, especially in his bastion Chhindwara, has now started reshaping the party in the district again.