Religious leaders have now stepped in to broker peace between political parties in Karnataka. The latest being the Vishsveshwara Theertha Swami of the Pejawar mutt from the religious Udupi town in coastal Karnataka.

The Pejawar swamy as he is popularly known, is trying to broker peace between the Janata Dal-Secular and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka so that the two parties could get together and form the government.

Sources close to the very influential Swamy told rediff.com that he is not in favour of a mid-term poll and he would be keen on brokering peace between the two parties.

The swamy also spoke to JD-S leader, M P Prakash and urged him to have a truck with the BJP and form the government. Apart from this the swamy also spoke to BJP president Rajnath Singh and convinced him to rethink the alliance with the JD-S and form the government in Karnataka.

While the BJP seems to be convinced, the JD-S apparently has certain reservations regarding a coalition. Prakash says that the atmosphere at present is not conducive for talks as the BJP had done plenty of damage to the reputation of the JD-S leaders after the two parties fell out.

The swamy has also assured to rope in two other religious leaders in the state to try and convince both H D Kumaraswamy and state BJP president Sadananda Gowda on the issue.

However there is this sense of urgency which is brewing with the JD-S camp regarding the formation of the government in Karnataka. A majority of the younger leaders want the JD(S) to go ahead and form the government with the BJP. However the party boss, H D Deve Gowda feels that the party has to regain its secular image. Gowda it is learnt has told all his MLAs to have some patience and not react until things work out with the Congress.

Gowda will try his best to convince the Congress into an alliance and only if this does not work out will he consider the BJP, sources said.