Tiruchirappalli: The Village Priests
Federation today announced it would back the Bharatiya Janata
Party-Janata Party alliance in the forthcoming April 13 Tamil
Nadu assembly elections.
The Federation alleged that both DMK and AIADMK had not
done anything substantial for the Poojaris. However the BJP
and JP had accepted their demand, and hence they were backing
them, according to an official release.
The General Council meeting of the Federation held here
today also urged the government to pay government salary
for the Poojaris, Archakas, Sivachariars, Bhattachariyars,
Nagaswara Vidwan and others participating in poojas.
Demanding that the monthly salary for Poojaris be fixed at
Rs 5,000 a month, they urged the government to charge
electricity tariff for temples at domestic rates, instead of
commercial rates.
The government should also donate all the clothes and the
cows donated to the temple to the backward class and
economically backward people so that religeous conversion
could be prevented, they said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 00:30