Belagavi: The disparity in allocation of funds for temples in the state rocked the Legislative Assembly on Monday as Muzarai Minister Rajashekhar Patil came under fire by legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mr Visveshwar Hegde Kageri of the saffron party remarked caustically that even emple deities were categorised as those belonging to the ruling party, the opposition and ministers when it came to allocation of funds.
“The government is dividing deities as ruling party, opposition and ministers’ gods. While temples dedicated to the ruling party and ministers’ deities are getting good grants, those identified with the opposition are being neglected,” he charged.
Mr C T Ravi of the Bharatiya Janata Party joined the debate to suggest that the fund allocations to the temples should be made based on the population they served.
The issue came up during question hour when Janata Dal (Secular) legislator H K Kumaraswamy wanted to know how much money had been released to small temples in SC/ST colonies under the Aradhana scheme and how much of it had been spent.
Mr Patil, in his reply, admitted that one of the temples was given only '13,000 for its development.
Intervening, Mr Ravi noted that the government had earmarked only Rs 35 crore for over 32,000 temples, while providing more funds to the minority welfare department.
Speaker of the legislative Assembly Ramesh Kumar at once interrupted to say he would not allow any discussion that divided people on religious lines.
A heated debate followed between ruling party and opposition members, with the Bharatiya Janata Party members accusing the government of trying to appease the religious minorities for the sake of votes.
Later, while replying to a similar question by Mr Kageri, Mr Patil said that the government had spent Rs 1.22 crore on the development of temples in Uttara Kannada district.
