BJP, Congress Demand Panel Report On Missing Keys Of Puri Temple Treasury

The BJD said the Ratna Bhandar was not opened for 38 years and the opposition should refrain from indulging in politics in the name of Lord Jagannath.

The BJP and the Congress separately demanded that the Biju Janata Dal government in Odisha open the 'Ratna Bhandar' of the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, and make public the report of a judicial commission formed to probe into the issue of missing keys of the 12th-century shrine's treasury.

The demands were raised on Thursday, two days after the Orissa High Court asked the state government to file its response by July 10 on a petition praying for making public the report of Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Inquiry on the missing Ratna Bhandar keys.

"The judicial panel submitted its report to the state government in November 2018, about five years ago. The government has not taken any action on it and kept it in cold storage," BJP spokesperson Pitamber Acharya said.

If the government believes in transparency, the judicial commission report should be made public without further delay, senior Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said.