Amit Shah holds closed-door meeting with seers of DK, Udupi

Udupi, Feb 21: Amit Shah and Yeddyurappa, the national and state presidents of Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday held interactions with seers and mutt heads form undivided Dakshina Kannada district at Sri Rama Vittala Hall on the premises of Pejawar Mutt here.

 Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Mutt, Vidyadheesha Tirtha Swami of Paryaya Palimar Mutt and about 15 seers participated in the dialogue. MPs Nalin Kateel and Shobha Karandlaje, Karkala MLA V. Sunil Kumar, Santosh, Mattar Ratnakar Hegde, T.V. Hegde, and other BJP leaders, were also present.

Though the topic of the dialogue was ‘Hindu religion and culture’ they also reportedly discussed about the political angle.

The press was not allowed to cover the dialogue. After the meeting, speaking to presspersons, Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Mutt said that he had told Mr. Shah that all communities should be treated equally.

There should not be any favouritism. Programmes such as Shadi Bhagya and the control of mutts were not desirable, he said.

There should not be one policy for the majority community and another for the minority community. Both the majority and minority communities should be treated equally, he said.

Yet another suggestion given by him was to resolve the Mahadayi river dispute out of court. He said that the Union government should take the initiative to resolve the dispute. If the Congress failed to respond, it would have to take the blame, the seer said.

The seer said that he gave his suggestions to all the parties. “Even if AICC president Rahul Gandhi comes here tomorrow, I will give him my suggestions. But it is up to the political parties to either accept or reject them,” he said.

Asked if the issues of Ram Temple or anti-cow slaughter came up for discussion, the seer said that these issues were not discussed due to lack of time.