VIJAYAWADA: A day after the State government issued a GO constituting a new Board for the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), Opposition parties on Saturday decried the ruling YSRC’s decision to appoint tainted people to the Board that governs the world’s richest Hindu temple. The new Board has 24 members and four ex-officio members.
Appointment of Aurobindo Pharma director Penaka Sarath Chandra Reddy, who was arrested for his involvement in the Delhi liquor scam, and Dr Ketan Desai, a Gujarat-based urologist who was arrested over corruption charges and removed as president of the Medical Council of India (MCI), to the Srivari Trust Board drew backlash.
Taking serious exception to the new appointments, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu averred that the YSRC government was not even hesitating in bringing disrepute to Lord Venkateswara Swamy for its own political gains.
Further, he sought to know how could the government take liberties with the sentiments of the devotees and appoint people with tainted background to the Board.BJP State chief D Puran-deshwari took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “Once again AP CM has proved that (the) TTD Board is (nothing), but a political rehabilitation centre.”
Condemning the State government’s decision, she said nominating people like Sarath Chandra and Ketan Desai to the Board highlights that the Chief Minister has no belief in the sanctity of the Board and the temple.
Speaking to reporters in Tirupati, former TTD Board member and BJP State spokesperson G Bhanu Prakash Reddy alleged that crores of rupees had changed hands in appointing the Trust Board members.
Stating that the TTD, in the past, used to follow certain norms in selecting the Board members, he said, “Individuals with religious belief should be nominated and members with criminal background be removed immediately.”Another BJP spokesperson, Dinakar Lanka observed that there was no social balance in the constitution of the TTD Board.
Concurring with the views of the TDP and BJP, Jana Sena Party (JSP) spokesperson Pothani Venkata Mahesh described the government’s decision to appoint tainted people to the Srivari Trust Board as an act against the sentiment of Hindus. “It is not proper to use Lord Venkateswara for political gains and selfish motives,” he remarked.