Coming under severe criticism for being discourteous to the Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati, the temple administration today said it would make sincere efforts to assuage the feelings of the seer.

In a press release issued on behalf of the temple administration, its public relation officer Laxmidhar Pujapanda said: “The administration has the highest regard for Shankaracharya and respects his authority. It will make sincere efforts to end the standoff by discussing the issue with him at the earliest possible.”

However, the temple administration was non-committal on when its officials will visit the Gobardhan peetha to meet the seer. The seer skipped the rath yatra after the Jagannath temple administration’s sent him a letter stating that he alone would go up the chariots according to the high court’s direction. The seer apparently wanted his followers to accompany him while offering prayers to the deities on the chariots.

Reacting to the temple administration’s softened stand today, the Shankaracharya said: “A conspiracy has been hatched against me. It is a conspiracy to defame Aditya Bahini (a voluntary force formed by him). I now understand what politics behind all this is. The letter which was sent to me was dictated by someone with a nefarious design in mind.”

The seer also said that there was no high court decision barring him from climbing the chariots along with his followers.

“On the pretext of the high court’s order, the authorities are trying to hoodwink the people,” he said.

The aggrieved religious leader said that if the administration had really wanted him to take part in the car festival, it would have sent its representatives to discuss the issue with him. “I had announced my non-participation in the car festival the day before the event. But nobody turned up to discuss the issue with me. Even till today, no official of the temple administration has come to meet me,” said Shankaracharya.

Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb has also condemned the temple administration’s attitude towards Shankaracharya. He questioned the authority of the temple administration to write a letter to the seer restricting his freedom of worshipping the deities on the chariots. Senior BJD minister Damodar Rout also criticised the temple administration for its shoddy treatment of the dharmaguru.

In yet another development, the devotees have expressed their displeasure about temple administration putting up barricades around the chariots stationed outside the Gundicha temple.

“The deities have already been taken inside the Gundicha temple from the chariots. What is the point in not allowing the devotees to touch the chariots,” said Debasis Das, 22, a student.