Mangaluru, Mar 26: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday morning visited the Sri Krishna mutt in Udupi and offered prayers to the presiding deity of the temple.

She was accompanied by BJP candidate for Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat Shobha Karandlaje, Udupi MLA K Raghupati Bhat and other party leaders.

Palimaru mutt chief Paryaya Swami Vidyadeesha Teertha, handed over the 'prasadam' to her.

The minister requested the Swami to pray on her behalf to Lord Krishna for the welfare of the country and return of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.

Sitharaman said she had a close bond with the Sri Krishna mutt and Sri Mookambika temple at Kollur for the last several years.

The minister is scheduled to take part in a meeting of fishermen at Manipal and BJP workers' convention at the party office later in the day.

She will also accompany Shobha Karandlaje during the filing of her nomination papers.

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Agra, May 3: A man hurled a shoe at national president of Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party Swami Prasad Maurya during a rally here on Friday.

The man, identified as Dharmendra Dhakrey, has been and further action is being taken against him, Dauki SHO Rampal Singh said.

A spokesperson of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) claimed that Dhakrey is associated with the organisation.

Maurya in February left the Samajwadi Party and formed the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party.

The incident happened this evening when Maurya was addressing a rally in support of the party candidate from Fatehpur Sikri in Dauki.

Talking to PTI, ABHM spokesperson Sanjay Jaat said, "One of our members hurled a shoe at Maurya when he was delivering his speech in Dauki. We were against the leader over his remarks against Ramcharitmanas.”

Maurya striked a controversy by alleging that certain verses in the Ramcharitmanas, a sacred text in the Awadhi language based on the epic Ramayana, "insult" a large section of the society on the basis of caste and hence, those should be banned.

"We have also written letters in blood and appealed to admit him in a mental asylum for disrespecting the Hindu saints and Ramcharitmanas," Jaat said.

The members of the mahasabha also threw ink on Maurya’s cavalcade and brandished black flags when it was passing from Fatehabad.

The members threw black ink on the cavalcade and chanted 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans.

“We have been following Maurya’s cavalcade from the Fatehabad toll on Agra-Lucknow Expressway. Some of the members protested at Fatehabad and showed black flags when it was passing. Besides, they also threw ink on his car,” Jaat said.

While leaving the party, Maurya accused the SP leadership of discriminating against him and not defending him over his statements on the Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony.

He had joined the Samajwadi Party leaving the BJP ahead of the 2022 assembly polls, contesting the elections unsuccessfully from Fazilnagar.

Before joining BJP in 2016, Swami Prasad Maurya was in the BSP and was leader of opposition in the Akhilesh yadav regime.

Recently, Maurya announced to contest the elections from Kushinagar Lok Sabha seat.