SRIKAKULAM: Minister for Human Resources Development Nara Lokesh said that former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy should respect religious beliefs and follow the declaration procedure while he visits Tirumala.
“I always follow the beliefs of other religions whenever I visit a church or a mosque and it would be good if the YSRC chief follows the declaration procedure when he visits the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala,” Lokesh said after his surprise visit to a primary school in Soranga Veedhi in the Srikakulam Municipal Corporation on Thursday to check the implementation of mid-day meal scheme.
Speaking to the media later, Lokesh said that devotees raised several issues in Tirumala, including the poor quality of the Laddu Prasadam during his Yuva Galam Padayatra. Thus the TTD EO conducted a probe into several irregularities that took place during the previous regime. That was how the use of adulterated ghee in laddus came out, he said.
“We have constituted a special committee to probe the issue and results would be out soon. Why former TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy altered the tender conditions decreasing the annual turnover of the company to Rs 150 crore from Rs 250 crore to be eligible to supply cow ghee to the Tirumala temple,” he asked.
“We have witnessed what happened in the recent general elections after Jagan touched the god for his political gains,” the TDP general secretary said.
“We are already implementing the social security pension scheme and gave notification for Mega DSC as promised during the NDA election campaign, besides initiating several other development programmes and welfare schemes. We will not shirk responsibility unlike the previous YSRC government,” Lokesh asserted.