Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy on Thursday took oath as the ‘special invitee’ of the newly constituted TTD board of trustees.
At a brief ceremony inside the temple of Lord Venkateswara, TTD Additional Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy administered him the oath. After ‘vedasirvachanams’, he was presented the Lord’s ‘prasadam’.
Addressing the media outside the temple, Mr. Karunakar Reddy thanked Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for bestowing on him the opportunity to serve the devotees for the second time in a row.
Earlier, Chandragiri MLA and Chairman of the Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy took oath as ex officio member of the trust board.
Meanwhile, the G.O. stipulating that the local MLA, Mr. Karunakar Reddy, will not have voting rights in the board meetings has raised many an eyebrow.
The lives of 22,000-odd strong TTD workforce and the people of both Tirumala and Tirupati are directly or indirectly entwined with the prestigious institution. While so, divesting the local MLA of voting rights will have a direct impact on solving their issues, it is feared.