Ex-TTD chief priest acting at behest of BJP, alleges Ganta

‘An attempt is being made to tarnish the image of TDP govt.’

HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao addressing the media in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao reiterated that the Modi government had instigated the former chief priest of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) A.V. Ramana Dikshitulu to make false allegations to bring disrepute to the Chandrababu Naidu government in the State.

Addressing a media conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Srinivasa Rao supported the stand taken by Mr. Naidu at Tuesday’s ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ that the BJP government was seeking to make an issue out of the alleged disappearance of a diamond from the jewellery of Lord Venkateswara.

Meet with Rajnath

Mr. Srinivasa Rao showed pictures of Mr. Dikshitulu meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi and a photograph showing the picture of the late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy beside that of deities at Mr. Dikshitulu’s house.

It was sacrilege on the part of the chief priest to keep a picture of YSR besides the pictures of Hindu deities, he said.

He warned the YSRCP leaders against staging protests to dilute the ‘Dharma Porata Deeksha’ meetings of the TDP. Instead of supporting the cause and fighting for the interests of AP, the YSRCP leaders were falling at the feet of the BJP leaders in Delhi, he alleged.