Congress set to oppose Karnataka CM’s plan to free temples of state control

Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Thursday (December 30) hit back at Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for his statement promising to bring a Bill to free Hindu temples from state control.

The senior Congress leader said it not just possible. “How can Muzrai temples be given to local people for administration? Temples are the wealth of the government, a wealth of the treasury. Crores of rupees are collected by these temples,” he said.

Speaking at the two-day state BJP executive committee meeting in Hubli on Wednesday (December 29), Bommai said his government is thinking of bringing a new law that relaxes state’s control on Hindu temples and religious institutions.

Also read: Karnataka CM plans Bill to free Hindu temples of state control

“The Karnataka government will introduce the Bill in the next Assembly session with an aim to keep only regulations and let temples manage their affairs and development activities,” he said.

Shivakumar said that BJP is trying to politicise the issue, but the Congress won’t let that happen.

The Muzrai department of Karnataka has 34,563 temples under its control. Of them, 205 are in the ‘A’ category with annual revenue of over Rs 25 lakh. There are 139 temples in the ‘B’ category (Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh). The remaining 34,219 temples are in the ‘C’ category.
The Deccan Herald reported that temples in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories earned Rs 1,383.63 crore between 2018 and 2020.