BENGALURU: The ruling Congress seems to be adopting “soft Hindutva” to tackle BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections, and the pivotal role is being played by senior minister Ramalinga Reddy.
Reddy, who is the muzrai minister, has suggested to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to allocate funds to renovate 100 Lord Rama temples across the state. Last month, Reddy, not to alienate the Hindu vote bank, had issued an order to all muzrai temples in the state to perform pujas on January 22 to mark the consecration of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya.
Reddy proposed the temple renovation plan during the pre-budget meeting of the department with Siddaramaiah, who is also the finance minister. “Regardless of the quantum of allocation in the budget, we will rejuvenate Ram temples as we have our own funds in the department,” he clarified.
Reddy also said he will release a list of temples which have received funds from the Congress government. Political pundits said that with the renovation initiative, Congress is trying to prove that it is not averse to Hindus and to counter any BJP move on religion, which is likely to crop up in the run-up to the general elections.
The CM too has taken a stand and declared that he is not an atheist as he inaugurated a temple in Bengaluru East on Jan 22. On allegations by BJP leaders that Siddaramaiah did not wear a tilak during a recent function, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar clarified that the chief minister wears the tilak.