ALLAHABAD: Courting a controversy, BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule has demanded that a Buddha temple should be constructed at the disputed Babri Masjid site in Uttar Pradesh' Ayodhya. She said she believes that the Supreme Court must order the construction of a Buddha temple at the site because a Buddha idol was recovered from there during the excavation process.

Phule, a Lok Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich, said some people start debating about "Mandir-Masjid" for vote bank politics whenever elections approach. Mosques and Temples cannot feed people, she said adding that they should care about their rights and employment more than these issues.

She also questioned the renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj and termed it as an attempt of the state government to divert people's attention from core issues. Phule was in the city to attend a seminar on the rights and roles of the scheduled caste and minorities in the Constitution.

Phule has garnered a lot of 'limelight' in the recent past because of her controversial statements and even caused embarrassment to her party. Once she had raised questions on her party leaders eating in Dalit homes for the heck of "getting pictures clicked" and stated the same as "disrespect".

In May, during a row over Muhammad Ali Jinnah's portrait at the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University, Phule has termed the founder of Pakistan a mahapurush (great personality).

37-year-old Savitri Bai Phule first became an MLA in the year 2012. She was given ticket for Bahraich in 2014 and became BJP MP after emerging victorious in the elections with around one lakh votes.