The controversy over the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple land in Road No. 12, Banjara Hills, has turned into a political tussle within the Congress when Labour minister Danam Nagender has once again expressed his anger at the Home minister Sabita Indra Reddy by questioning if she was asleep.
Danam, who has locked up the temple on Thursday, has participated in the Krishnashtami festivities there on Friday. Speaking to the media on the occasion, he has expressed his ire at Sabita Indra Reddy for not responding to the ISKCON controversy. He has questioned sarcastically if she had no time to look into the issue or had not got up from bed yet. Stating that she was not even respecting a fellow minister, Danam said he was ready to sacrifice even his position for the sake of a principle.
Danam has said that he was not a person who indulges in politics in the name of God and nor was he like Bhajrang Dal which, he says, uses religion and God for political survival.
Questioning how the police could register cases against even ministers, he said Home minister should answer how cases were registered against him. Stating that police were over-reacting, Danam dismissed the cases by stating that he was not new to facing cases. He said he fought with the TDP for 16 years when that party was in power and that party got 190 cases registered against him. They could not do anything, despite being in power, he said. He said his fight was to save the assets of the God.
Defending his act of locking up the ISKCON temple, he said authorities of the organization were trying to snatch away the temple land. Alleging that ISKCON which leased the temple land was a fake organization, he has maintained that even the original organization had stated it.
Dismissing allegations that he was trying to grab the temple land, he said he had never in his life indulged in land grabbing. He said if he had such intentions he would not have got a wall constructed in the temple. Stating that he had already complained about the irregularities of the temple management to the PCC Chief Botsa Satyanarayana and the Endowments Minister, Danam said he would also write to the Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
–Agencies