TIRUPATI: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s allegation that animal fat was used instead of pure ghee for preparing Prasadam offered at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala during the previous YSRC regime has led to a major controversy.
State BJP spokesperson G Bhanuprakash Reddy on Thursday demanded a thorough inquiry into the matter. He accused the previous YSRC regime of being ‘anti-Hindu’ and disrespectful to Hindu religious practices.
He criticised the temple administration for awarding the tenders for supply of ghee to non-traditional sources outside the cow belt.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) should award tenders to the farmers’ cooperative societies from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu henceforth to ensure supply of quality cow ghee for the temple Prasadam.
The expert committee overseeing ghee quality should be replaced with a new one guided by the National Dairy Development Board to ensure the quality standards as it remained unchanged for the past nine-and-a-half years, he said.
The BJP leader alleged that the previous YSRC government attempted to misappropriate Rs 5,000 crore TTD funds. The appointment of individuals with criminal record to the TTD Trust Board and the conversion of the TTD Padmavathi Nilayam pilgrim amenities complex at Tiruchanoor into the District Collectorate should be condemned, he said.
Former TTD Trust Board member OV Ramana claimed that substandard ghee was indeed used in the preparation of laddus. Earlier, quality cow ghee was sourced from a Karnataka milk cooperative society, but was later awarded to a Delhi-based company.
Former TTD Executive Officer Dharma Reddy had awarded the ghee supply contract to the firms preferred by him, leading to the current row over adulteration of the key ingredient in making the temple Prasadam, Ramana alleged.