Why KCR's Rs 5 crore thanksgiving gift to Tirupati temple is plain wrong
KCR is on a two-day trip to the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to offer gold and silver ornaments to Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala hills and Goddess Padamavati at Tiruchanoor nearby.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday donated ornaments worth a whopping Rs 5 crore to the famous Tirumala temple as a thanksgiving gift for fulfilling his vow of realising a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh.
KCR is on a two-day trip to the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to offer gold and silver ornaments to Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala hills and Goddess Padamavati at Tiruchanoor nearby.
KCR, as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief is known as, had made the vows for the realisation of a separate Telangana in the name of various deities of different famous temples during the statehood agitation. Telangana was formed in 2014.
But the question is: does the Chief Minister of a state have the right to spend public money merely because he had taken a vow based on his religious beliefs? The donation also points out the misplaced priorities of the leader of a state. The money from state exchequer could have easily been used for welfare purposes.
NOT THE FIRST TIME
This is also not the first time KCR has done something like this. Last year, he had offered a 11.7 kg gold crown - worth over Rs 3 crore - to Goddess Bhadrakali at Warangal to mark Durga Navratri.
In 2015, KCR drew much criticism after he conducted an Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagna to please the gods. The yagna was conducted at his sprawling 120-acre farmhouse at Erravalli village in Medak district. Moreover, the yagna was held even as Telangana was going through a severe drought and agrarian crisis, with farmers committing suicide all over the state.
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