VIJAYAWADA: Bhuvaneswari Peetham pontiff Sri Satyananda Bharathi Swamy has said that the State government has taken a hasty decision and sacked AV Ramana Deekshitulu, who was serving as the chief priest of Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala.
The pontiff participated in a protest meeting organised by Brahmana Ikya Vedika here on Monday, condemning the indifferent attitude of ruling TDP towards priests. Speaking on the occasion, Satyananda Bharathi made it clear that he will extend all his support to the agitations to be taken up by the Ikya Vedika in favour of Ramana Deekshitulu.
Former chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao, who also participated in the meeting, came down heavily on the State government on the issue.On Monday, Rao wrote a letter to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu regarding the press conference organised by Deekshitulu in Chennai a few days ago to bring out the irregularities taken place in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).In his letter, the former chief secretary alleged that the ruling TDP has been adopting anti-Brahmin policies and the chief priest Ramana Deekshitulu was sacked citing his age.
Ramana Deekshitulu’s action comes within the whistleblower policy, he pointed out. Instead of rewarding him, how can the government come to a conclusion and terminate him from service, he asked. The government should consider the issue and examine whether the principles of whistleblower policy can be applied in this case, he said.Rao also took a dig at Naidu for looking every issue in a political angle. He alleged that the government was leaking information on the implementation of GO 76.
In 1986, the then ruling TDP has made amendments to the Endowments Act which led to closure of many small temples and the priests faced several hardships. The GO 76 was revised during the regime of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, but it is not being implemented by the TDP regime.“On several occasions, I have asked Naidu to spend some time to know about the GO 76, but he ignored it. The Chief Minister did not have time to know the merits and demerits of the GO,” Rao said.
Naidu was playing a dual game with the community and adopted a strategy to create disputes among Brahmins, he alleged.He further charged that the TDP government was a caste-based one and that it was following anti-Brahmin policies. “How can the government appoint a person as chief priest who failed to clear the examinations meant regarding Agama Shastra?’’ he questioned. He said that efficiency should be considered in all issues while adopting the hereditary system.
Bapatla MLA Kona Raghupathi alleged that the TDP had not issued ticket to even one Brahmin candidate in the State in Assembly elections. He recalled once upon a time around 15 Brahmin MLAs represented in the Assembly. Former MLA and YSR Congress leader Malladi Vishnu alleged that the Brahmin properties in the State were illegally grabbed by the Telugu Desam leaders.