Minister for Endowments Vellampalli Srinivas and Minister for Municipal Administration Botcha Satyanarayana on Wednesday alleged that former Union Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju was indulging in mud-slinging as he was unable to digest the government’s initiative in reconstructing the Sri Kodandarama Swamy temple on the hill of Ramateertham at a cost of ₹3 crore.
Speaking to the media here, the Ministers alleged that Mr. Ashok went to the temple premises one hour in advance to defame the government which had respected him by putting his name on the plaque. “As a trust board chairman, Mr. Ashok has never taken any initiative for the development of Ramateertham. Now he is trying to disrupt the construction activity. Although there is no violation of protocol, he is making false allegations against us,” said Mr. Satyanarayana.
“The temple is not the personal property of Mr. Ashok’s family. If so, he could have allocated funds from MANSAS Trust. Instead of utilising MANSAS funds for the development, Mr. Ashok allowed sale of its properties during TDP regime,” he alleged.
Mr. Srinivas said the reconstruction works would be completed by Sri Rama Navami in spite of hurdles being created by Mr. Ashok and TDP leaders.
“We are trying to modernise 25,000 temples across the State. The government allocated ₹70 crore for the purpose. The then TDP government demolished many temples in Vijayawada and hurt sentiments of Hindus. But the YSR Congress Party government is trying to rebuild them and respect the sentiments of the Hindus,” said Mr. Srinivas.
