JDS seeks to nix K'taka BJP plan to invite UP CM to launch work on a Ram Temple

The Janata Dal (Secular) is seeking to scuttle the ruling BJP's plan to invite Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to launch work on rebuilding an ancient Ram temple on a picturesque hill in Karnataka's Ramanagara district.

The hill, about 50 km from Bengaluru and known as Ramadevara betta, is a popular weekend tourist spot, and became famous after the blockbuster Hindi movie Sholay was shot there in the early 1970s. Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai is set to announce plans to build a grand temple in place of the existing one in his budget in February, weeks before the assembly elections. The government will model the proposed temple on the lines of the one at Ayodhya, Ramanagara district in-charge minister CN Ashwath Narayan has said.

The move has annoyed the JDS, especially its leader and former CM HD Kumaraswamy, who has vowed to upend BJP's plans. The district has a strong presence of JDS. Channapattana and Ramanagara, the two constituencies on the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, are represented in the assembly by Kumaraswamy and his wife, Anita. Kumaraswamy has accused BJP of trying to make the temple an election issue for the sake of votes. The government could have built one in the last two years when BJP was in power, he said.


Kumaraswamy said he did not want the UP CM to lay the foundation stone for the proposed temple, but instead the heads of the Adi Chunchanagiri and JSS mutts, the two influential religious seats, perform the ritual.

The two mutts represent the Vokkaligas and Lingayats, the dominant communities of the state.