INDICATING that the Opposition BJP is likely to make the Shree Jaganath Temple ‘Ratna Bhandar’ an issue in the next election in Odisha, the BJP President J P Nadda visited the shrine on Friday and enquired about the location of the

deity’s treasury.

Nadda, who is on a maiden two-day visit to Odisha since assuming office and visited the temple, asked servitors accompanying him to show him from outside the ‘Ratna Bhandar,’ key to whose inner chamber are reportedly missing.

Nadda had raised the issue of the keys to the ‘Ratna Bhandar,’ which is expected to hold riches, at a party meeting on Thursday and lambasted the Naveen Patnaik Government for it saying that “Even the treasure of Lord Jagannath is not safe in the State.” “Some say that the Ratna Bhandar’s keys are lost and others say officials have the duplicate key. What can people expect under such circumstances? The people can only expect a duplicate key from a duplicate Government,” he had said. Nadda had asked the party workers to show the door to the Government which “failed to protect the Lord’s treasury” and said time has come for a “double engine Government” (same party dispensation at the Centre and State) in Odisha.