BHUBANESWAR: BJD star campaigner VK Pandian on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should find out the keys to the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath temple in Puri if he has any knowledge about it.

Pandian’s retort came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue during his election rallies in Odisha and said the keys to the Srimandir’s treasury have gone to Tamil Nadu. “I would humbly request the honourable prime minister to find out the keys if he has some knowledge about it. He can enlighten the people of Odisha,” Pandian said in an interview to PTI Videos.

The closest aide of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for years, Pandian also dismissed the prime minister’s remark as a political statement. “He is making a political statement. So, we will take it like that,” he said.

The BJD leader said the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar has not been opened in almost four decades. For nearly a decade, the BJP ministers handled the matter. “So perhaps they should find out where the keys are,” he said.

Pandian said an affidavit pertaining to the judicial inquiry report on missing Ratna Bhandar keys was submitted in the high court. He said the HC ordered the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to open the Ratna Bhandar. Accordingly, it was decided that the temple treasury will be opened during Rath Yatra when devotees will not be present inside the shrine.