WARANGAL: Former minister T Harish Rao has alleged that the government demolished an 800-year-old Kakatiya-era Shiva temple at Ashok Nagar village in Khanapur mandal of Warangal district in the name of constructing an Integrated School, while secretly searching for hidden treasure.
The Siddipet MLA on Monday visited the demolished temple, known as ‘Mattikota Shivalaayam’ and offered prayers at the site.
Former minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, former MLAs Peddi Sudarshan Reddy, Shankar Naik, Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar, Aroori Ramesh and other BRS leaders accompanied Harish Rao.
Speaking to the media, he said the Revanth Reddy government was not only neglecting education but had now started demolishing temples as well.
According to him, the sanctum sanctorum was destroyed after digging through the large mud embankment protecting the temple premises.
Harish Rao alleged that between midnight and 1 am, authorities dug a massive 24-foot-deep pit beneath the sanctum. If the objective was genuinely school construction, he questioned why the excavation was carried out secretly at midnight.