From correspondents in Punjab, India, 01:33 AM IST

Prayers are being organized at various places in Punjab to seek divine intervention to save the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Most of the prayers are being organized privately by individuals, political leaders and local organizations. The prayers, involving Sikh and Hindu priests, are being conducted to seek that the UPA government survives Tuesday's trust vote in the Lok Sabha.

Prayers have been organized in Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and some other places.

'We organized an 'ardas' (prayer) for the survival of the Manmohan Singh government and the passing of the nuclear deal,' Akali Dal (1920) party leader and former Punjab assembly speaker Ravi Inder Singh said. The prayer was organised at a local gurudwara (Sikh temple) here.

'The issue about the nuclear deal should be decided by the people of this country and not by just 541 MPs in Delhi,' Singh said.

One prayer session was organized by former Congress MP Umrao Singh in Jalandhar city Saturday and Sunday.

The prime minister hails from Punjab's Amritsar city, where his family settled after India's Partition in 1947.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)