VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Finance and Legislative Affairs Payyavula Keshav squarely blamed former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for sacrilege in Tirumala temple and irregularities in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) during the previous regime. He accused the former Chief Minister of misinterpreting the Supreme Court order and observations.
Speaking to mediapersons on Friday evening, Keshav said the culprits will be brought to book soon. “This involves sentiments of crores of people. Without giving any scope for politics and without any selfish motives, the facts regarding the incident will be brought to light,” he said.
The Finance Minister said people believed that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would not speak any falsehood in the matters concerning Lord Venkateswara and their response was there for everyone to see.
“Jagan became afraid of the public reaction and fearing public outburst, he tried to project himself as a champion of Hinduism. As the facts are in open, Jagan’s defence mechanism came to the fore,” he observed.
Keshav said Jagan wanted to prove himself innocent in the Tirumala issue but exposed himself and there were several loopholes in his argument.
“Jagan is trying to mislead people. Had he ever tried to speak about Tirumala and its sanctity in the past? It was his regime that destroyed the ghee tendering process. Jagan is a person, who had even backed off from visiting Tirumala temple, as he had to give a declaration. Now, he speaks of Tirumala and the systems there in place. Why had he failed to protect the robust system in existence there and tampered with it? Not wishing to go to Tirumala, Jagan even had a Tirumala setting erected at his house,” he said.
Keshav said Jagan’s party men, who are his relatives, have now abandoned him and jumped the ship, realising his untrustworthiness.
He maintained that for the TDP, Tirumala and TTD were never political issues, but a sacred responsibility. “The TTD Board of Trustees is not just any management board, but it is a board of trustees with a sacred responsibility,” he observed. Naidu’s comments on laddu issue gave way to a serious debate on several issues related to Tirumala, how to protect it from being commercialised as it happened during the YSRC regime, he said.