HYDERABAD: Giving up the crusade for Chilkur temple, the hereditary trustees cum archakas of the temple, M.V. Soundararajan and C.S. Gopalakrishna, decided to hand over the temple keys to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Saturday after the morning rituals of the deity.

However, `a ray of hope' emerged from them by evening when the Chief Minister's office referred the matter to the three-member committee headed by P.V.R.K. Prasad, which looked into the controversial 1,000-pillar mandapam controversy in Tirumala. Following this, the Chilkur archakas decided to reverse the decision to hand over the temple keys.

"We will abide by the decision of the committee. Chilkur is a unique example of how a temple can be run without political or commercial intrusions. The fight has been to preserve this freedom," said Prof. Soundararajan, who retired as Registrar of Osmania University.

Earlier in the day, the decision to hand over the temple keys to Dr. Reddy sent shockwaves all around. "After the morning poojas on Saturday, we will lock the temple at 8 a.m. and hand over the keys to the Chief Minister requesting him to make arrangements for the evening pooja," the archakas had said..

Apex court ruling

The decision was in the wake of the State Government reportedly deciding to constitute a board of trustees. This was following the Supreme Court's orders dated March 31, 2006, directing "it to decide whether to appoint a board of trustees or not for Chilkur." "The officials blatantly twisted the Supreme Court judgment just like they had misinterpreted the earlier High Court ruling on the matter," the duo alleged.

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