Chandy differs with CPM view on temple treasures

T’PURAM: The Congress-led UDF government on Tuesday made it clear that it did not agree with the CPI-M’s view that the huge wealth found in the vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy temple here are public assets.

“I am of the view that the treasures found in the temple vaults are assets of the temple,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said when asked by reporters about CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement that the wealth should be treated as public assets.

He said he also did not agree with CPI-M’s suggestion that an administrative body on the lines of the Guruvayur Temple Managing Committee be set up to manage the temple affairs, freeing it from control of the Trust run by the Travancore Royal Family.

However, he added that the Supreme Court’s decision would be final in all these matters.

Meanwhile, certain Hindu outfits in Kerala also came down heavily on CPI-M for demanding formation of a state-appointed administrative set-up for the temple.

“The temple properties belong to the temple alone. Pinarayi’s statement on the issue amounts to insulting believers,” Hindu Aikyavedi leader Kummanam Rajasekaran said in a statement.

Disclosing the CPI-M’s official stand on the issue for the first time, Pinarayi had yesterday suggested formation of a broad-based managing set-up for the temple akin to that in Guruvayur and also said that the treasure found should be treated as public assets.

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