Tirupati Laddu row: Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan on Tuesday launched a vitriolic attack on two former chiefs of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams – YV Subba Reddy and Karunakar Reddy – over the Tirupati Laddu row, saying they may have converted to Christianity.
“The three lions (attached to the chariot of Goddess Kanaka Durga atop Indrakeeladri) were looted from the Kanaka Durga Temple during the YSRCP regime. When we questioned them, we were met with silence. I don’t know whether YV Subba Reddy and Karunakar Reddy have converted to Christianity…Under your regime, a board (TTD) was established, and you are responsible and accountable for this contamination. We are raising these questions only after receiving reports,” he said.
Former TTD chairman, YV Subba Reddy, has moved the Supreme Court seeking the formation of a panel to probe allegations of the use of ghee laced with animal fats for the preparation of Tirupati Laddus.
Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, another ex-chairman of the board, termed chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s allegation of the use of adulterated ghee as baseless. He said Naidu was making false claims out of frustration as he could not politically confront ex-CM Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Meanwhile, the president of Andhra Pradesh Sadhu Parishad, Swami Srinivasananda Saraswati, attacked Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“In the previous government, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy did a lot of ‘apcharas’. He saw the Tirumala Kshetra as a business centre. He never recognised it as a spiritual or pilgrim centre… He impured the sanctity of Lord Venkateshwara… He never respected the sentiments of Hindus,” he added.
Pawan Kalyan came to Vijayawada’s Kanaka Durga Temple on Tuesday morning to perform a purification ritual.
In a post on X earlier this week, he announced that he would atone for the sins of the previous government for 11 days.
“I am deeply hurt on a personal level by the malicious attempts made to infuse impurity in the prasad of Sri Tirupati Balaji Dham, the centre of our culture, faith, belief and devotion, and to tell you the truth, I feel cheated from within. Right now, I am taking a vow to seek forgiveness from the Lord and am taking a vow to fast for eleven days. In the latter part of the eleven-day Atonement Initiation, on October 1 and 2, I will go to Tirupati and have a personal darshan of the Lord and beg for forgiveness and then my atonement Initiation will be completed in front of the Lord,” Pawan Kalyan had written on X.
CM N Chandrababu Naidu last week claimed animal fat was being used to prepare the holy prasadam at the ancient temple, triggering a massive row.
With inputs from ANI, PTI
