Govt withdraws move on sale of Mantralayam temple lands

For various reasons, the ruling YCP Government is very cautious and careful on issues that would inconvenience the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders. Already, the Government came down in regard to the properties of the TTD. Now, the Mantralayam lands issue also met with the same fate.
The YCP Government initially gave permission to the Raghavendra Swamy Mutt management to sell off the lands and deposit those amounts in the banks. The decision was taken as the tenant farmers were not paying the lease amounts. The Mantralayam Mutt has over 5,192 acres of which 1,870 acres are located in Telangana state.
Following requests from the management, the Government gave permission to sell the Mutt lands of over 208 acres in several villages in Telangana. However, the BJP leaders promptly put objections and warned of serious consequences if the properties donated by devotees were sold to private parties. Following this, the Government has once again taken a decision to go slow. For now, the sale has been stopped because of political backlash.
The whole problem started with allegations that in many places, the temple lands have slipped into private hands. Many encroachers have even created false documents to show the lands as their own. The Government is trying to streamline the temple properties but the BJP is putting up stiff resistance.