<div align="justify">Two days after a CPM minister in Kerala took a stand against extending special treatment to a religious head at a government function, two ministers of his party have visited the seer, opening a series of social media memes targeting the “hypocrisy”.<br /><br />Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac and PWD Minister G Sudhakaran, both veteran leaders of the party, met Sri Bharati Tirtha of the Sringeri Sarada Peetham in Alappuzha on Thursday. Photographs of the ministers meeting the Sringeri mutt chief were widely shared on social media, with supporters of the BJP adding bite to the sarcasm.<br /><br />K Surendran, BJP general secretary, posted the photographs on his official Facebook page with the text – “udaranimitham” (all for a living). Some of the Left supporters also pointed out the “impropriety” of the visit by ministers representing a CPM-led government. The seer was in Kerala as a guest of the state government.<br /><br />The two ministers strike an interesting contrast with the state’s Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran who, on June 12, personally removed a throne-like seat “reserved” for the seer at a government function in Thiruvananthapuram. The Sringeri mutt chief did not attend the event.<br /><br />“I removed the throne with the help of (Congress MLA) V S Sivakumar because I believe there is no room for a chair like that, either for a minister or a pontiff, in a government function,” the minister said. The minister also pointed out that the seer was not a formal invitee to the function.<br /><br />Media reports said the ministers offered fruits to the seer. The pontiff who gave the ministers apples as prasadam, gave one “extra apple” for the Chief Minister, reports said.</div>
<div align="justify">Two days after a CPM minister in Kerala took a stand against extending special treatment to a religious head at a government function, two ministers of his party have visited the seer, opening a series of social media memes targeting the “hypocrisy”.<br /><br />Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac and PWD Minister G Sudhakaran, both veteran leaders of the party, met Sri Bharati Tirtha of the Sringeri Sarada Peetham in Alappuzha on Thursday. Photographs of the ministers meeting the Sringeri mutt chief were widely shared on social media, with supporters of the BJP adding bite to the sarcasm.<br /><br />K Surendran, BJP general secretary, posted the photographs on his official Facebook page with the text – “udaranimitham” (all for a living). Some of the Left supporters also pointed out the “impropriety” of the visit by ministers representing a CPM-led government. The seer was in Kerala as a guest of the state government.<br /><br />The two ministers strike an interesting contrast with the state’s Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran who, on June 12, personally removed a throne-like seat “reserved” for the seer at a government function in Thiruvananthapuram. The Sringeri mutt chief did not attend the event.<br /><br />“I removed the throne with the help of (Congress MLA) V S Sivakumar because I believe there is no room for a chair like that, either for a minister or a pontiff, in a government function,” the minister said. The minister also pointed out that the seer was not a formal invitee to the function.<br /><br />Media reports said the ministers offered fruits to the seer. The pontiff who gave the ministers apples as prasadam, gave one “extra apple” for the Chief Minister, reports said.</div>
