KARNATAKA HARD-PRESSED FOR `100 CRORE TEMPLE ALLOCATION

With an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha election and wanting to catch the Ram Mandir wave sweeping Karnataka, the Siddaramaiah government plans to allocate `100 crore for the renovation and development of Ram and Hanuman temples in the state.

Though the government is hard-pressed due to the implementation of money-guzzling five poll promises like free bus rides for women, doles for unemployed youth and women, the amount for the temple scheme would be earmarked in the upcoming budget, scheduled to be presented on February 16, said sources.

The move comes at a time when the opposition BJP and the JD(S) have been accusing Siddaramaiah of taking an anti-Hindu stand even after he pledged `1,000 crore to develop the state’s Muslim localities.

The BJP and the JD(S) recently raised the pitch against the Congress government on the removal of a Hanuman ‘dhwaja’ (flag) in Mandya and criticism from former minister Gali Janardhana Reddy for neglecting Anjanadri Betta in Koppal district, believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman. The promise by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar to build Hanuman temples in every district remains to be fulfilled. The CM, who also holds the finance portfolio, is expected to announce plans for the development of Anjanadri Betta. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai allocated `150 crore for the development of Anjanadri

Betta in the 2023 budget, but the proposal was sidelined after the Congress came to power.

This fund for renovation of Ram temples is also a counter-measure to the BJP’s plan to send 10,000 Ram ‘bhakts’ from the state to Ayodhya.

Sources said during a meeting held last week, the muzrai department submitted a proposal to the CM in which it sought measures to counter the impact of the recent consecration ceremony in Ayodhya and thwart the BJP’s attempts to reap electoral benefits from it in the Lok Sabha election.