India, June 29 -- Political slugfest between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Uttar Pradesh intensified on Sunday over the Ram Temple donation controversy. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath challenged SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to publicly back a movement for the Krishna Janmabhoomi, while the opposition leader accused the ruling party of moving from a "nation first" approach to a "donation first" one.

The row over donations at the Ayodhya Ram Temple first surfaced on June 7 when SP leader Tej Narayan 'Pawan' Pandey alleged that between Rs.5 crore and Rs.7.5 crore from temple offerings had been siphoned off. On June 13, the state government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) at the ...