Lucknow, June 26 -- Upping the ante on the Ram temple donation controversy with an eye on the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party is preparing to leverage the issue of alleged "chanda chori" (donation theft) by taking it to villages and polling booths through its PDA panchayats and training programmes and raising questions of accountability, highly placed sources in the SP said. Going beyond its PDA (Pichhda-Dalit-Alpsankhyak) caste alliance formula to counter the BJP's Hindutva narrative and weaving in the temple donation controversy in its grassroots mobilisation drive, the SP appears to be testing a hybrid strategy: retaining its core social justice messaging while attempting to dent the ruling party on one of its strongest planks of cultural resurgence. Tasked with executing the plan, members of the SP Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini, the party's frontal organisation, have already conducted PDA panchayats and training camps in Varanasi, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Agra and Ballia. Camps in the remaining districts are scheduled in the coming weeks, with the next one slated for Lucknow district on July 3. Rambabu Sudarshan, national general secretary of SP Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini, said the programmes are designed to educate people about the Constitution, social justice, democratic rights and current political developments. "When an issue involves public faith and public funds, every allegation must undergo impartial, transparent and independent investigation," he stated. Sudarshan added that thousands of workers are reaching out to households to discuss "what is happening in Ayodhya and how matters of faith are being taken for granted." The party will simultaneously highlight the BJP government's decision to shift the urn containing Ambedkar's ashes from its current location opposite the Vidhan Sabha in Hazratganj to Aishbagh, where a new memorial complex is under development. The move, SP leaders claim, has hurt the sentiments of the Bahujan community. The temple donation controversy erupted in early June this year when reports surfaced alleging large-scale irregularities in how the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra handled daily offerings. Claims ranged from missing cash running into crores to unaccounted valuables and procedural lapses in counting and transport of donations. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government has already submitted its preliminary report. SP national president Akhilesh Yadav had earlier described the controversy as a serious blow to public faith and the local economy. He termed Ayodhya, the place from which the BJP drew much of its political strength, as the party's potential "Kurukshetra." Yadav demanded daily briefings on the investigation and greater transparency. The temple, consecrated in January 2024, continues to draw millions of devotees, making any perceived mismanagement of donations a sensitive matter that cuts across caste lines. Responding to the SP's plan, state BJP spokesperson Ashok Pandey said, "Those who fired gun shots on karsevaks in Ayodhya do not have the right to talk about Ram Mandir. Public memory is not too short to forget corruption and crime during successive Samajwadi Party regimes. The SIT is probing the donation money row at the Ram Mandir. Everything will be clear soon and those guilty will not be spared."...