The CPI, the CPI(M), and the BJP on Sunday criticised the decision of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to go ahead with the auction of 50 of its landed properties in Tamil Nadu and Rishikesh, and appealed to the State government to withdraw its decision immediately.
CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna, in a letter to TTD Chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy on Sunday, demanded that he dropped the proposal to auction Lord Balaji’s lands immediately.
‘Why the hurry?’
Mr. Ramakrishna said, at a time when the entire world was fighting against COVID-19, the TTD was trying to sell the properties hurriedly, and wanted to know what was the necessity.
These lands had been donated by the devotees for religious purposes and to ensure service to the Lord, and the State government had no right to sell them hurriedly, he opined.
“You and your government are hell-bent on selling ‘Andhra Pradesh’, and what urgency do you have to sell such properties,” Mr. Ramakrishna questioned the TTD Chairman.
CPI(M) State secretary P. Madhu, demanding immediate halt to the sale process, said that in the year 1987 an Act was made for the TTD to protect the assets of Lord Venkateswara and, from the income on those assets, serve the devotees and pilgrims coming to the Lord’s abode.
“The government’s argument that it cannot protect properties located at far-off places, and hence the decision to sell them, does not go well with the Hindu devotees,,” said Mr. Madhu.
“This will deal a big blow to the sentiments of devotees and their trust in the TTD as a protector of the Lord’s properties and donations made by them,” he opined.
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan vice-chairman and BJP State vice-president S. Vishnuvardhan Reddy demanded that the YSRCP government explain if Lord Venkateswara, with such a huge reserve of funds and properties, needed ₹23.92 crore.
‘Soft targets’
“The TTD and the State government are only a protector of money and properties donated by the devotees and do not have the right to sell them. The properties of Hindu Gods have become soft targets for the government, while they do not dare to do the same with properties belonging to other faiths,” alleged the BJP leader.
