HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao offered ‘bangaru meesalu’ (gold moustache) to Kuravi Veerabhadra Swamy temple in Mahabubabad district.
Rao arrived at the temple along with his family and offered the ‘gold moustache’ worth Rs 60,000 to the temple’s presiding deity.
Rao had made a offering of gold ornaments worth a staggering Rs 5 crore to Lord Venkateswara in Tirupati, inviting criticism from the opposition over “misuse” of public funds.
He had donated the jewellery at the famous hill shrine to express his gratitude to the Lord for materialising Telangana, the state for whose creation the TRS leader waged a prolonged movement.
The chief minister was said to have taken a vow to make the offering following fulfilment of his dream of a separate Telangana state.
Veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh in June last year had slammed the Telangana government for splashing public money on celebrations of two years in power and called the chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, another Nero.
In a series of tweets, Singh said, “KCR celebrating and putting huge ads worth 100s of crores. Another Nero in the celebration mode when poor people are dying. Shame on you KCR!”
KCR’s decision to offer gold with public money has evoked social media reactions. Below are some of the tweets by prominent people and journalists.
#KCR's temple run continues. He will offer 25 gm gold moustache to temple in Mahbubabad. Cost Rs 62000. Again govt pays for personal vow pic.twitter.com/zEikBfzLtJ
— T S Sudhir (@Iamtssudhir) February 24, 2017
India is hosting another world conference on homeopathy. KCR offers gold in another temple. Public money is maal-e-muft for dil-e-beraham
— ᴋᴀᴍʟᴇsʜ sɪɴɢʜ / tau (@kamleshksingh) February 22, 2017
#Telangana CM #KCR gifts gold necklace 2 Lord Balaji as cops block rally by jobless in Hyd.Only those in power know why they do what they do
— GS Vasu (@vasu_southfirst) February 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/iam_manikar/status/834307305734815744
#KCR Is Telungana his personal property? 5Cr luxury coach, 7Cr Yagam now 5Cr worth gold offering to Tirumala. Max farmers suicide in state.
— ♤HUMANISM♤ (@U_krishna4U) February 21, 2017
(With inputs from PTI)