Srirangapatna/ Mandya: Following the move to claim Chikkamma Chikkadevi Temple in Mahadevapura village and Government School at Chandagalu village in Srirangapatna taluk as the assets of Karnataka State Waqf Board, Opposition Leader in Legislative Assembly R. Ashok led the protest of BJP workers on Thursday.

Ashok paid his obeisance to the Goddess Chikkamma Chikkadevi, before staging the protest at the Temple premises. Party workers who condemned the move of the State Government favouring  the Waqf Board, raised the slogans as ‘Land Jihad.’

Ashok said, “We have come to save this ancient temple, as Waqf Board has filed an application claiming the Temple land as its property. When there is no Muslim population here, how can the Temple belong to Waqf Board.”

Ashok visited Chandagalu village later along with Mysuru-Kodagu MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and inspected the Government School premises, amid the sloganeering by the villagers in their support.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Pandavapura Srinivas sought to clarify that, the School land belongs to Waqf, only to face the wrath of BJP leaders. BJP leader Induvalu Sachchidananda vented his anguish against the officials, who found themselves in a fix.

Ashok said, like cancer, Waqf Board is fast spreading its tentacles, with the ulterior motive of destroying the State. If the cancer is not operated with a surgery, nothing would be left in the State. Hence we should launch a movement, he said.