Members of the board that runs the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra have said they are ready "for a dialogue", after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis suggested that a huge dispute over whether to allow women to pray there be resolved through discussion. reports NDTV. 


But the temple authorities have said not a word yet on Mr Fadnavis' support for women's right to pray at the sanctum of the temple in Ahmednagar, where nearly 500 women activists trying to force their way into the temple, were physically blocked by about 1,000 villagers and the local police on Tuesday.


Fadnavis picked a side, tweeting, "Indian culture and Hindu religion gives women the right to pray. A change in yesterday's traditions is our culture. Discrimination in praying is not in our culture. The temple authorities should resolve the issue through a dialogue."


Residents of Shingnapur village, where the temple is located, have in a resolution condemned the activists for attempting to a defy a centuries-old ban on women's entry into the inner-most part of the temple, where the idol of Lord Shani is placed on an open-air platform.  


On Tuesday, members of the Bhumata Brigade, led by activist Trupti Desai, arrived from Pune in six buses, declaring they would enter the sanctum.