Former Endowments Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader Vellampalli Srinivas has demanded that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should tender an apology to the devotees of Sri Venkateswara Swamy, the presiding deity of the Tirumala temple, for making an ‘‘irresponsible statement that the ghee used in the preparation of the Laddu Prasadam was adulterated’‘.
Speaking to media persons at the YSRCP office at Tadepalli in Guntur district on Monday (September 30, 2024), Mr. Srinivas said Mr. Naidu’s comment was faulted by the Supreme Court and that ‘‘even the government advocate clarified that the ghee was not adulterated’‘, which was contradictory to Mr. Naidu’s allegation.
Pointing out that the apex court questioned why Mr. Naidu made a public comment that the ghee was adulterated, without seeking a second opinion, Mr. Srinivas sought to know why the matter was kept a secret for some time after the ghee samples were tested. He expressed the confidence that facts would eventually come out, and stressed the need for a judicial inquiry by a Supreme Court judge.
‘YSRCP resorting to politics’
On the other hand, Revenue Minister Anagani Satya Prasad insisted that adulterated ghee was used in the preparation of the Laddu Prasadam and that the former CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and other YSRCP leaders knew about it but they lacked the courage to admit the mistake and were doing politics over it.
In a brief chat with media persons at the TDP central office near Mangalagiri on Monday, Mr. Satya Prasad said the YSRCP leaders were deliberately commenting on Hinduism and Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was reluctant to declare his faith at the Tirumala temple because he was a ‘‘non-believer’‘. The properties of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) were looted during the YSRCP regime (2019-24), he alleged.
Published - September 30, 2024 09:30 pm IST
