TIRUPATI: The war of words between

chief minister and opposition parties on religious lines further intensified after the actor-turned-politician

questioned CM YS Jagan as to why he was still holding on to his caste despite changing his religion.

Following the opposition's attack on his religion after the name of Jesus Christ surfaced in one of the search links on Google to Tirumala

Devasthanam's official website, chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy tried to silence his political opponents by claiming humanity was his religion and keeping up the promises made to the people was his caste, at the launch of YSR post operative sustenance scheme in Guntur on Monday.

Addressing party workers in Tirupati on Monday, the Jana Sena chief said "I have to react on the chief minister's remarks because I was told by the media that the CM claimed that humanity was his religion and his caste was fulfilling promises made. But as far as I know if someone changes his religion from

Hinduism

to Christianity, then there can be no question of identifying the person any longer based on his caste because caste has no place in Christianity."

"Reddy, Kamma, Kapu-Balija, Yadava etc are all castes part of Hinduism. Only those who repose faith in Hinduism follow the caste culture. And the moment one changes his religion to Christianity, he loses his caste too. But some people change their religion but hold on to their castes in our country only to derive political mileage," he said.

Stepping up the ante against the chief minister further, the Jana Sena chief felt "It is bizarre that Jagan is claiming that humanity is his religion. A true Christian will not cause harm even to a tree. But Jagan who lacks tolerance has torched plantations belonging to Jana sainiks. The YSRC government which is painting the whole state reflecting its party colours has only spared Tirumala from their ambit."

"After looking at his remarks, I have a question for Jagan: why do you need to stick on to your caste after changing your religion? Is it not because holding on to your caste will ensure votes and funds in abundance? While the society and the people of the state have changed and are more secular today, some leaders are still trying to derive political mileage by bringing about a divide among the people on religious lines, which is truly unfortunate," he added.