Battle over Sita-mata: Cong, BJP spar over proposed temple in Sri Lanka

Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promised to construct a Sita temple but the matter did not go beyond the planning stage

The Congress, the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh, and the Bharatiya Janata Party are in dispute over a temple the state government has promised to build in Sri Lanka. Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan promised to construct the temple but the matter did not go beyond the planning stage. PC Sharma, minister in charge of religious trusts, recently said the government would build the temple and do a survey before starting the project. To that, Chouhan tweeted, "Kamal Nath sarkar ke afsar Sri Lanka jaake survey karake verify karenge ki Sita mata ka apharan hua tha ya nahin. Mitron isse jyada hasyaspad kya ho sakta hai.” (Officers of the Kamal Nath government will visit Sri Lanka and conduct a survey to verify if Sita mata was abducted. Nothing can be more ridiculous.) He accused the state government of hurting the Hindus by announcing it would “probe” things that were held as “undeniable truths”.

Spoilt weekend
 

A sudden order from the PMO to all departments on Friday to give details of the work done in the first 50 days of the new government made officers scurry back to work over the weekend. This had to be released to the press. The government had set a 100-day target, so the 50-day compilation took them by surprise. Officers were found poring over mounds of files to fill in details of their achievements.

Achche din for MP MLAs
 

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to give MLAs Rs 50,000 in cash to purchase laptops. They can buy the brand they like. The government will also increase the amount of the vehicle loan from Rs 15 lakh, which the previous regime offered, to Rs 20 lakh. The house loan amount has been raised to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 15 lakh. The government has sanctioned a personal assistant for each MLA against the demand for two. All this despite the government being financially weak.