Hundreds of Congress workers demonstrated in an Orissa town Wednesday, demanding the resignation of Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei for his alleged involvement in the swapping of a temple idol. 

Besides the idol scandal, Ghadei found himself in deeper trouble after gold and silver souvenir coins with his name and that of his wife and three sons were allegedly recovered from the Biraja temple in Jajpur town, 130 km from here.

The minister said in the assembly that he had never performed any rituals at the temple, further angering the opposition Congress, which now accuses him of making a false statement.

"The minister's involvement is evident from the coins that were found Sunday," said senior Congress leader Sarat Rout.    

Ghadei denied the allegations. "I will not resign. I visited the temple like any other devotee and worshipped the deity but that does not mean I am involved in the swapping of the idol," he said.

The Congress, which has been staging demonstrations in various places in the area, has called for a shutdown in the district if Ghadei does not resign or if Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik does not drop him from his council of ministers.

The controversy first erupted in September when the throne on which the idol was kept had to be repaired and the idol had to be removed from the sanctum sanctorum for the purpose.

After 18 days, the temple management installed an idol in the original position. But local media reported that this was not the original idol. Local newspapers also published reports claming that the authentic idol had been stolen.

Opposition parties alleged that the idols were swapped at the minister's behest as he had gone to pray there.

Priests and temple officials, however, found the original idol from the temple premises a couple of days ago and re-installed it Sunday.

Taking heed of the allegations, the government has ordered an administrative inquiry.

--Indo-Asian News Service