TRS MLA's comments against donations to Ram temple in Ayodhya trigger protest by BJP in Telangana

Amid the fund-raising drive forthe Ram temple in Ayodhya, a ruling TRS MLA in Telangana hassaid there was no need to give donations for it and shrinescan be built in local villages itself, with the remarkstriggering a protest by the BJP.

Addressing a meeting at Jagtial near Karimnagar onThursday, the MLA, K Vidyasagar Rao, attacked BJP leaders andurged the people not to make donations if somebody approachedthem.

As a video of his speech went viral, the BJP in the statestaged protests at Karimnagar and other places on Fridayagainst the ruling party and Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao.

Asking if people travelled to Uttar Pradesh to visit thetemple, Vidyasagar Rao said Ram temples can be built andworship performed in the villages and that there was no needto give donations to somebody else.

''They have started something new... give money forconstruction of Ram temple... This is a new facade....We aredevotees. They don't have devotion. We are the true devotees.

We are giving money. But, there is no need. Whoever comes, wehave to say, we will build Ram temple in our own village,'' theMLA said.

State BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar asked BJPactivists to peacefully conduct protests across the state onFriday against TRS president and Chief Minister Rao ''not notclarifying and apologising'' to the Telangana people overVidyasagar Rao's comments.

The comments were capable of creating regionaldifferences and taking people away from God, he claimed.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has said it is planningto reach out to 13 crore families across 5.25 lakh villages inthe country to collect funds for the construction of a grandRam temple in Ayodhya.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)