A former bus driver, trade union leader and bodyguard, Maduro had even visited Sai Baba at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh in 2005, along with his wife Cilia Fores, to seek the spiritual guru’s blessings, according to those associated with the Sai Baba trust. Sai Baba had breathed his last in 2011.

Praying for success: Nicolas Maduro, hand-picked successor of the late leader Hugo Chavez, won a narrow victory in Venezuela’s presidential poll. Pic/AFP