Karnataka: Muzrai Bill lost by a margin of 18 to 7

The contentious Muzrai Bill, which the Congress administration had been pushing for days to aid impoverished temples, was rejected in the Legislative Council on Friday night by a vote of 18 to 7. At that point, Muzrai Minister Ramalinga Reddy could only watch in helplessness as his bill was being destroyed.

“All is not lost,” Reddy said resolutely as he emerged from the House. That’s all—on Monday, the Assembly will approve it once again.

His attempt was to pass the Karnataka Hindu Dharmika Samstegala Mathu Dharmadayadattigala Thiddupadi Vidheyaka 2024, which aims to assist 35,000 Hindu temples and their employees who are not making as much money as they should.

The Bill aims to punish wealthy temples more heavily and transfer the excess revenues to temples categorized as “C” that have lower earnings. Reddy said that wealthier temples—classified as “A”—should assist less well-off temples, which don’t make enough money. According to him, the money would go toward meeting the educational and other requirements of priests and their kids. ~

Bill harming temples dedicated to Hindus: Oppn

BJP leaders Ravi Kumar and Kota Srinivas Poojary, however, were against the bill, arguing that the government ought to fund smaller temples with its own funds rather than taking money away from larger ones. “None of the governments did it earlier, neither your government from 2008–13 and 2019–23, nor our own government from 2013–18,” Reddy begged BJP lawmakers. The Bill suggests raising the tax burden on wealthy temples from 5% to 10%, but BJP lawmakers firmly objected. Reddy attempted to buy time in the standoff by recommending that the matter be brought up on Monday, but MK Pranesh, the chair, insisted that it must be settled on Friday and delayed the House for around twenty minutes.

JDS MLC TA Sharavana and Bharati Shetty of the BJP had earlier claimed that the Congress administration was attempting to enact the Bill at the expense of Hindu shrines. BK Hariprasad, a Congress MLC, was made fun of by Sharavana, who said, “We will visit the Ayodhya temple, you don’t.” Sharavana should stay on the subject of debate, Hariprasad said.

Court orders new investigation into CM

A Special Court has directed Lokayukta police to carry out more investigation to verify allegations of “quid pro quo” against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, dismissing the “B” report (closing report) that the police had submitted in a corruption case against the politician | P6