Shimla, Sept. 3 -- All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson and Congress MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore on Thursday alleged that the Centre had removed the members of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust as a "damage-control" exercise following public anger over alleged financial irregularities in the temple trust.

Speaking to ANI in Shimla, Rathore said the government had earlier given a clean chit to the then CEO and other trustees but subsequently removed them in view of the public backlash.

He alleged that the decision to remove the trust members amounted to an indirect admission by the government that there had been wrongdoing in the management of temple donations.

"Although the government had given a clean chit to the...