Temple wealth: Achuthanandan says his stand vindicated

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 19: Seizing on the report of amicus curiae pointing to "mismanagement" of the famous Sree Padmanabhaswamy

, CPI-M leader V S

today said it only vindicated his stand that attempts were made to take away its riches to which UDF government turned a blind eye.

In the light of the report submitted to the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar should explain why the government did not take any step to ensure that the temple and its wealth were managed properly, he said in a statement here.

"When I said that there had been attempts to take away the precious treasures of the temple, the government not only took it lightly but accused me of casting aspersions on the Travancore royal house. The report submited in the Supreme Court by amicus curiae Goapal Subraniam has vindicated what I had said," the nonagenarian leader said.

When the Kerala High Court directed the government to look into the possibilities of freeing the temple from the control of the royal house, the then LDF government headed by him had declined to challenge that in the apext court. But further steps in that direction could not be taken as the assembly elections were declared, he said.

However, the UDF government that came to power in 2011 did not challenge the royal house when it approached the Supreme Court against the high court order, he said.

PTI