Bengaluru : A Christian delegation including religious leaders on Sunday, January 5 submitted a petition to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa seeking for permission to install the statue of Jesus Christ at Kapala Betta in Kanakapura taluk, Ramanagara district.

A row broke out in the state over senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar sponsoring the construction of a 114-foot statue of Jesus Christ with the ruling BJP terming it as an appeasement policy and the state government seeking a report from authorities on the status of the land earmarked for the project.

Speaking with the presspersons after submitting the petition Archbishop of Bengaluru, Peter Machado said, ” It is wrong to bring politics into the issue of erecting the statue of Jesus Christ at Kapala Betta. At the said spot, the Christian community has been worshipping Jesus since long. The statue is proposed to be built at the same site. Therefore, we have requested the chief minister against opposing the plan.”

He further clarified, “The hill is known as Kapala Betta but not ‘Kapali Betta as claimed by a few. The Christian missionaries in the past would have converted people but we are not converting anyone.”