Maheshwar gets 7 days to submit temple records

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 27

Even as the state and kardars of Kullu remained a divided house over the formation of Lord Raghunath trust, the BJP termed the state government’s decision a politically motivated one to browbeat Maheshwar Singh at a time when he was thinking of coming back to the BJP fold.

On the other hand, Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, HR Chauhan today issued notices to Maheshwar Singh and his son Danvinder Singh, who are the ‘charibardar’ of Lord Raghunath. They had been asked to submit records of the Lord Raghunath Temple within seven days, said Chauhan.

Though a faction of the Kullu Kardar Sangh under its president Dhoot Ram supported Maheshwar, another faction under former president Om Parkash hailed the formation of the trust.

“Our struggle for the formation of the trust of Lord Ragunath, which we have launched in 1988, has borne fruit now,” said Om Parkash. “But it is a pity that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh gave the representation in the trust to those who have been siding with Maheshwar and has opposed the formation of the trust,” he said.

However, the Chief Minister played a master stoke by naming Dhoot Ram as one of the non-official trustees of the trust. Ram now faces a catch-22 situation as he supports both Maheshwar and Virbhadra.

According to sources, the Chief Minister has put his henchmen on the trust and it may trigger protest among the kardars and stakeholders of the Dev Sanskriti.

Manali BJP MLA Govind Thakur claimed that the Congress had timed the formation of the trust at the fag-end of its tenure and did nothing for the last four years. “It is not acceptable for the people of Kullu valley,” he added.