Minister flays TDP, JSP for trying to whip up religious passions

Amaravati: Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivas and other YSRCP leaders criticised the TDP and Jana Sena for misleading people on sand, religion and English medium in schools.

Addressing a a press conference at the party's Central office at Tadepalli on Saturday, Srinivas said it was a blatant move to divert people's attention from the welfare programmes introduced by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The Minister said that the parties have been trying to whip religious passions to gain political mileage, as they were unable to digest the growing popularity of the Chief Minister. They have been raising issues with religious sentiments and were trying to tarnish the image of Chief Minister but they will fail in their efforts, he stated.

"It is unfortunate that Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan are trying to ignite religious sentiments by making false allegations against the government and the Chief Minister," he said.

Naidu was losing grip on his party and 15 out of his 23 MLAs failed to attend his 'sand deeksha' and even TDP MPs were knocking at the doors of other parties, the Minister said. "There are reports that Naidu is planning to merge his party with the BJP. He has been making baseless allegations against Chief Minister Jagan that he was allowing propagation of other religions at Hindu religious places," the Minister added.

He also ridiculed the false propaganda on religious propagation through RTC tickets at Tirumala. The Minister said that the painting at Bhavani Island was done during the previous TDP regime. With reference to the allegation that a temple was demolished in Guntur, he said alternative land was already provided to the temple committee and a new temple had been constructed there.

The Minister warned that the government would not hesitate to take criminal action against people who make false allegations. Meanwhile, YSRCP MLA Malladi Vishnu said the Chief Minister was doing all that was possible to uphold religious traditions like priests being granted hereditary rights by releasing GO No.76. He said Rs 234 crore was being granted by the government for the maintenance of temples.