The 16 newly-appointed members of the Trust Board of Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam took oath on Friday even as the tussle for the chairman’s post remained unresolved.
Barring Veeramachaneni Ranga Prasad, all other members were sworn in by temple Executive Officer A. Surya Kumari. Mr. Prasad, a senior leader of the BJP, who laid his claim for the chairman’s post against the TDP’s Yalamanchili Gouranga Babu, stayed away from the oath-taking.
The government has issued an order nominating the Trust Board with 16 members on June 21. Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and other officials attended the oath-taking ceremony. Later, the new board members had darshan of the deity and offered special pujas.
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The new members, include Velagapudi Shankar Babu, Badeti Dharma Rao, Kodela Suryalatha Kumari, Eedi Sambasiva Rao, Chennumolu Samba Susheela Devi, Pamarthi Vijaya Shekar, G. Padma Shekara Rao, Viswanathapalli Papa, Chandrupatla Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, Beeraka Purnamalli Rama Prasad, Itta Penchalaiah, Vasireddy Ramanadham and Peddireddy Raja.
The government had nominated Lingambotla Durga Prasad as an ex-officio member. The new members will elect the chairman in a couple of days. The Trust Board has a two-year tenure.