The kankanam controversy on Tirumala hills refuses to die down.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is understood to have called up TTD chairman Kanumuri Bapiraju on Sunday and told him to allow TTD executive officer LV Subramanyam wear the swarna kankanam on the occasion of Navaratri Brahmotsavams beginning Monday.
“Why don’t you let the executive officer wear the kankanam? Why are you so particular that only you should wear it? Let there be some give and take. Let this not become another controversy,” the chief minister is reported to have told Bapiraju. When Bapiraju called on the chief minister on Saturday at the state Secretariat, the issue of not only the swarna kankanam but other issues including raising the prices of tickets in TTD-managed temples too came up for discussion and the TTD chairman is understood to have told him that the executive officer had done it without his knowledge which was nothing but defying his authority.
Bapiraju is keen that he should wear the kankanam for Navaratri Brahmotsavalu too which will continue till Oct 23. The chief minister after listening to him advised him to work in coordination with the executive officer.
But on Sunday, the chief minister told the TTD chairman to allow Subramanyam to wear the kankanam to which Bapiraju had agreed.
Earlier in the day, speaking to mediapersons in Tirumala, Bapiraju denied making any complaint to the chief minister against Subramanyam and that he was not in the habit of making complaints against anyone.