E-Paper
Influential Ayodhya seer likely to be inducted into Ram temple trust at July 22 meeting
This possibility has arisen even as three posts in the Trust are vacant following the resignations of Champat Rai (as general secretary) and Anil Mishra (as trustee) last month due to the donation controversy and the death of Vimalendra Mohan Pratap Mishra in August 2025. New trustees are expected to be appointed to all three vacant posts.
Prefer HTon Google
Amid the Ram temple donation controversy, an influential Ayodhya seer will most likely find a place in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust when its executive committee meeting is held in Ayodhya on July 22, a Trust official, who did not wish to be named, said on Thursday.
This possibility has arisen even as three posts in the Trust are vacant following the resignations of Champat Rai (as general secretary) and Anil Mishra (as trustee) last month due to the donation controversy and the death of Vimalendra Mohan Pratap Mishra in August 2025. New trustees are expected to be appointed to all three vacant posts.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) strategists are brainstorming to increase Ayodhya’s representation in the Trust by appointing one seer from the temple town as a permanent member and two others as invited members.
Two names have emerged in the saffron camp’s internal survey and their background checks are currently underway. The Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) and Ayodhya police have also been asked to assist with this. Based on their report, the names will be announced at the Trust meeting.
Two other permanent members of the Trust will be selected from within the saffron camp.
“It has also been decided that the other two permanent members will be appointed from within the organisation itself,” said the Trust official quoted above.
While the top RSS leadership is not keen to assign responsibility to any pracharak in the Trust, no final decision has been taken on this yet, he added.
As the RSS leadership does not want to lose its credibility following the Ram temple donation probe, alternative names are being considered.
CEO’S NAME EXPECTED TO BE FINALISED BEFORE TRUST MEETING
The name of the first chief executive officer (CEO) is also likely to be finalised before the Trust meeting. The three-member committee formed by the Trust to select the CEO started its work last week and held a meeting in Delhi where it finalised the outline of the selection process.
The selection committee comprises Justice (retd) Pramod Kohli, Lt General (retd) Vishnukant Chaturvedi and Suresh Haware. It was formed at the Trust’s previous meeting on July 6.
Govind Dev Giri, the Trust’s treasurer, has said the committee will send three recommended names to the Trust before July 22.
The Trust will unanimously select one of these three names in the meeting. He also said that if consensus is not reached on all three names, the committee will be asked to recommend different names.
Meanwhile, a list of Trust officials who will receive important roles in the Ram Mandir’s management is understood to have been finalised and an announcement is reportedly on hold till the July 22 meeting. Retired Indian Forest Service officer Krishna Mohan was appointed the interim general secretary at the July 6 meeting of the Trust.
At present, apart from Krishna Mohan, the Trust includes chairman Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, treasurer Govind Dev Giri, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, Jagadguru Madhvacharya Swami Vishwa Prasanna Teerth, Yugpurush Swami Parmanand, Keshav Parasaran, and Mahant Dinendra Das of the Nirmohi Akhara.
