The irregularities in the TTD’s Srinivasa Kalyanotsavam project can be unearthed properly only with a CBI probe, opined the round table held by the CPI(M) here on Sunday.
The party’s district secretary, K. Kumar Reddy, wanted the TTD to step up vigilance and prevent the hard-earned money donated by the devotees from going into wrong hands.
“The Kalyanotsavam project was formed in the year 2011 and there is a rule that donations should not be collected in the name of holding celestial weddings to the Lord. In spite of that, 29 weddings were conducted abroad and crores of rupees collected from the gullible public in the form of tickets and donations. A senior official did not even produce the accounts for the advance amount taken from the TTD towards travel expenses,” he flayed.
The party’s city secretary, V. Nagaraju, accused the TTD of trying to protect the culprits by remaining mum on the various queries raised.
YSR Congress leader Chandrasekhar Reddy lashed out at the TTD trust board members and officials for behaving as if they were above law. K. Balaji, representing the Tirupati Chamber of Commerce, said it was unacceptable to collect and stash money in the name of God. He demanded the TTD to come out with the details and put in place a transparent mechanism to holding such events. Congress leader D.M.C. Bhaskar felt it was inappropriate for the TTD management to keep quiet even after its vigilance wing found out irregularities.
AIDWA district leader R. Lakshmi wanted the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to step in and instruct the TTD to nab erring officials.
BJP flays TTD
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken serious exception to the slew of charges of corruption and irregularities in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and demanded the trust board to wake up to the reality.
Referring to the ‘Srinivasa Kalyanam’ project, the party spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy said the scheme had emerged as the ‘Kalyanam of collections’, indicating that crores of rupees was collected by the officials in the name of donations. He demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge and criminal cases slapped on those found involved in the scandal.
Mr. Reddy lashed out at the TTD trust board for confining to Tirumala and concentrating only on getting darshan for their followers on the sidelines of their board meetings, and not concentrating on the development of other local temples under the TTD roof. He also expressed concern over growing cyber crimes in the garb of promoting Venkateswara cult and wanted the TTD to curb such incidents.
