BJP legislator accused of blasting 200-year-old Temple

BJP legislator Janardhan Reddy, who has levelled bribery charges against Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, has now been accused of blasting a 200-year-old Temple in Bellary district by using dynamites.

The priest of the Temple has lodged a complaint with the rural police in Bellary district alleging that Obalapur Mines, the iron-ore mining company owned by Reddy, had razed the shrine to the ground as its presence was proving to be a hindrance to its mining activities.

The priest, who claimed to be performing pooja at the Temple for the last several years, told the police that he was shocked to find the 200-year-old shrine destroyed when he went there three days ago. “I had performed pooja the previous evening. When I went there the next morning, the Temple had been razed to the ground”, he said in his complaint to the police.

Janardhan Reddy, who has denied his hand in the destruction of the Temple, said the complaint against him was a “political ploy”, orchestrated to divert public attention from the Rs 1.5 billion bribery charge he had levelled against the Chief Minister.

He took a team of reporters to the mining sites belonging to his company on Thursday and said the destroyed Temple was located at a distance away from his mining area. “There was no need for me to blast the Temple”, he said.

Reddy argued that mining area of Obalapur Mines was situated just across Karnataka’s borders in Andhra Pradesh. Wondering how the police in Bellary could register a complaint against him when the mining area belonging to his company is situated in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy said it was nothing but a plot to nail him down.

Meanwhile, the destruction of the ancient Temple took a new turn on Thursday evening when a group of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) activists reached the mining site and laid a fresh foundation stone for the Temple. The TDP activists, who regretted the destruction of the Temple, even engaged the employees of Obalapur Mines into an argument over the issue.

But, Reddy remained unfazed and said a “false complaint” had been registered against him because of the Chief Minister’s failure to give a proper reply to his bribery charges.