BJP demands to stop selling temple lands

Amaravati: Demanding the State government to cancel the proposal of sale of Tirumala Tirupati Devastanam properties, the BJP and Jana Sena alliance staged a one-day statewide hunger strike on Tuesday.

Speaking on this occasion, the BJP AP president Kanna Lakshminarayana who was on fast at his house in Guntur, said that the government has been cheating the public by putting a resolution passed TDP government, in abeyance. The state government issued a GO Rt No 888 on Monday, stating that the resolution No. 253 dated 30.01.2016 of Board of Trustees of TTD to dispose of 50 properties was kept in abeyance.

Reacting on this GO Rt No 888, Kanna explained that as per this GO, the YSRCP government further instructed to frame more guidelines than stopping the procedure of selling the temple lands. He said that the BJP has been demanding to unconditional stoppage of sale of temple properties. He said that the present Trust Board, constituted by the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has passed a resolution No. 309, on February 2, 2020, in which the Board Chairman YV Subba Reddy clearly approved for the proposal of selling the Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy. The BJP leader demanded the government to withdraw all these proposals without unconditionally.

It is worth mentioning here that, the resolution No 253 says that, certain properties may be disposed of off by public auction since they are the meagre extent and situated at faraway places which are not viable and maintainable by TTD. The government put this resolution in abeyance. But, the BJP demands to withdraw any kind of initiative related to the sale of the temple lands.

Kanna further said that if the government started selling the TTD lands and other temple lands for monetary gains, then it will have a negative impact on the temples across the country and every temple may take it as an example and sell the properties. He said that if it will be allowed now, then no one will come to donate lands to the temples.