Ahmedabad, May 19 (IANS): As Bageshwar Dham's Dhirendra Shastri from Madhya Pradesh prepares to visit Gujarat, a wave of controversy is sweeping across the state.

With both support and opposition mounting for Shastri, preparations for the "divine durbar" are underway in Rajkot, Surat, and Ahmedabad.

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela has openly criticised Shastri, accusing him "of being a marketing tool for the BJP, indulging in politics under the guise of religion". He further alleged that "false miracles and religious propaganda were being disseminated by the BJP as part of their political strategy."

Pratap Dudhat, former MLA of Liliya, Savarkundla, penned a satirical letter to Shastri regarding the price of cotton, asking him to leverage his divine power to increase cotton prices for farmers from Rs 1500 to Rs 2400 as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.

Meanwhile, the Hindutva youth leader Shastri is set to hold a session at Racecourse in Rajkot on June 1 and 2.  

Rajkot commercial co operative Bank CEO Purushottam Piparia, however, has challenged Shastri on social media, asking him to reveal how drugs come into Gujarat.

Piparia has promised a reward of five lakhs for this information, while simultaneously accusing Shastri of misusing vashikaran science and promoting superstition.