The war of words between the ruling BJP and the Congress party on the alleged ‘gold scam’ in Kedarnath temple is continuing to escalate. The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara said on Thursday that the BJP uses religious sentiments of crores of Hindus only to grab power. He said that whenever any corruption is exposed in the BJP governments the party seeks shelter in the religious beliefs and tries to disrupt communal harmony.

Responding to the accusation levelled by the chairman of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) Ajendra Ajay that the Congress is conspiring on the issue the PCC president said that it is actually BJP leaders who are engaged in conspiracy. He said that the BJP leaders are well versed with the Mantra of conspiracy from the period of British rule when they conspired against the heroes of the freedom struggle. “These people have now made the Badrinath and Kedarnath temples as the centres of the conspiracy,’’ he said.

Mahara said that the chairperson of the BKTC had levelled false allegations on the former president of PCC in the past also. He claimed that the corruption has now been exposed in the biggest centre of belief of Hindus. “BJP should answer how the quantity of gold received as donation got diminished substantially,’’ he said. The PCC president demanded that a high level inquiry should be ordered in the episode so that those involved in corruption in the temple are exposed.

The PCC president also attacked the BKTC chairperson on the photo shoot he did inside the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath and the QR code scam. He claimed that the BJP has converted the BKTC into a centre of its corruption and misdeeds.