The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) warned the State government to keep its hands off the exchequer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the custodian of the world’s largest Hindu temple.
Referring to the proposal doing rounds that the Reserve Bank of India was considering taking over the gold from the Lord’s coffers to tame the ever-rising inflation, the party slammed the UPA government for resorting to short-cuts to tackle long-term problems. Price rise and falling value of rupee are a result of the increasing imports and the failure of the ‘inept’ government at the Centre to act in time, said the State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy.
Breathing fire at the spate of proposals made to usurp the Lord’s funds, he observed that though the TTD Act 30 (1987) prohibited the use of temple funds for non-religious purposes, the State had eyed the same in the past for funding public works.
“Does the government have the courage to eye the funds of Wakf Board or the Christian missionaries,” he questioned, indicating that such wicked intentions would spell doom for the UPA government.
Stir threat
The party would resort to direct agitation if the government did not drop the move.
