VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that no one prevented YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy from visiting Tirumala, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said, “If he (Jagan) wants to go to Tirumala, he can go. But he should respect the traditions and customs followed there. No person is above traditions and customs.”
Strongly condemning Jagan’s claims that notices were issued against his visit, Naidu said as Section 30 of the Police Act was imposed in Tirupati, police served notices on YSRC leaders to prevent them from congregating in large numbers to avoid law and order issues. “Jagan should prove his claims by showing the notice to the media,” Naidu said and further alleged that the YSRC chief was not interested in going to the hill shrine, hence was making false claims.
Responding to the former chief minister’s comments on the declaration of his faith, Naidu sought to know why Jagan was objecting to signing the declaration form if everyone knows he is a Christian.
In response to Jagan’s statement that he has visited the hill shrine several times without signing the declaration form, Naidu said, “The YSRC chief violated norms by misusing his power as chief minister, but he cannot continue to do so.”
Refuting Jagan’s claim that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer had categorically mentioned that adulterated ghee was not used in making the Prasadam, Naidu said of all the eight tankers of ghee supplied by AR Foods, four tankers were used and the remaining four were rejected after getting a report from an NDDB lab. “In fact, the TTD had no mechanism for checking adulteration. After receiving complaints from devotees, samples of ghee were sent to an NDDB lab for quality check. It was then found that the ghee was adulterated,” he pointed out. Further, he reiterated that a state of the art laboratory will be established in Tirumala soon to check adulteration.
Additionally, the Chief Minister announced that an act will be formulated to ensure that all places of worship have employees from that particular religion.
No devotee should act against sentiments: CM
He also said consultations will be held with intellectuals to proceed further. Earlier, in a post on X, Naidu said Tirumala temple is the largest shrine in the world for Hindus and the people of Andhra Pradesh are fortunate enough to have such a divine place.
“My government accords highest priority to safeguard the sanctity of the Lord of the Seven Hills and to preserve the sentiments of devotees. Each pilgrim who visits Tirumala for the Darshan of the Lord takes utmost care to follow conventions and traditions to offer prayers to the Lord,” he said.
Maintaining that each pilgrim has the bounden responsibility to protect the sanctity of the world famous pilgrim centre, the Chief Minister appealed to the devotees to adhere to temple norms, traditions of Agama Sastra and TTD guidelines. “My sincere request is that no devotee should act against sentiments and temple rituals,” Naidu said.
