The Jana Sena Party (JSP) on Friday demanded that Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao reveal the number of people who are likely to benefit from a government scheme that aims to provide financial support of ₹5,000 to temple priests during the lockdown.
The party also sought to corner the Minister over his alleged mix-up of the words ‘Archaka’ and ‘Purohit’.
“Archakas offer their services in temples, surviving on whatever meagre income they get through public offerings. Purohits, on the other hand, conduct marriages, funerals and other domestic rituals and have no fixed income. It is unfortunate that the Endowments Minister of a State is unaware of this basic difference,” said JSP district leader and Tirupati in-charge K. Kiran Royal.
“JSP chief Pawan Kalyan had demanded support for purohits, to which Mr. Vellampalli had retorted that the State Government had already announced support for archakas,” Mr. Kiran said. “The Minister has no right to talk ill of our party founder. I would also advise the Minister to remember that he owes his political career to Pawan Kalyan’s elder brother K. Chiranjeevi,” Mr. Kiran added.
He sought to know how many archakas the government would support out of the 38,000 who had applied for financial support. Referring to a column on ‘Temple code’ in the application, the JSP said that only endowment temples had codes and wondered if it meant that the government would let down the scores of priests who are rendering services in private temples.
