Mangaluru: B Ramanath Rai, district in-charge minister, claimed that BJP candidate from Byndoor BM Sukumar Shetty advised him to stop funds from the Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple for mid-day meals to Kalladka and Punacha schools.

Rai, who was at the centre of the controversy over stopping of mid-day meal grants to schools affiliated to RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, revealed this during a campaign meet at Sajipamunnur on Tuesday.

Rai pointed fingers at Sukumar Shetty, a member of the Kollur temple committee, and said every month Rs 4.5 lakh was given to two schools in Dakshina Kannada. The money is given by devotees as thanksgiving.

Reacting to over his statement, Rai said: “People in Kundapur were against grants to these two schools. They had demanded it to be withdrawn. Sukumar Shetty said the same thing to me during a private meet. I assured him of stopping it if it’s not right. However, I was projected in bad light for stopping the grant while it was done under the advice of the BJP leader.”

The withdrawal of grant during last August kicked up a political controversy in coastal Karnataka. It was seen as a natural progression of the fall-out between Rai and Bhat.

Several children and parents of Sri Rama High School in Kalladka and Sri Devi School at Punacha protested against the state government, holding empty plates suggesting they were deprived of meals.

Sukumar Shetty denied Rai’s claim and said he wouldn’t stoop so low as to stop grants for mid-day meals. “When I was temple trustee of Kollur Mookambika Temple, I started giving free mid-day meals for nearly 20,000 students who lived in and around the temple. This initiative was started in the 1990s. Why would I now stop good work of proving food to children? This allegation is far from the truth,” he said.

According to the Government Order dated July 31, the adoption of two schools: Sri Rama Vidya Kendra, Kalladka, and Sri Devi Vidya Kendra, Punacha has been cancelled. The temple had granted Rs 2.32 crore to Sri Rama Vidya Kendra and Rs 50.72 lakh to Sri Devi Vidya Kendra during the period from 2007.

The order said that as per the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 (Rules 2002), no private educational institute can be adopted by any temple. The order states that as per the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 (Rules 2002), no private educational institute can be adopted by any temple. Granting fund would be a burden on the temple.