Abode of Lord Venkateswara Swamy, Tirumala Hills is considered the most sacred place of worship for Hindus. The government of Andhra Pradesh manages all the financial and administrative affairs of the temple through Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam board which is run by the ruling party. In the last five years, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government faced numerous allegations over misappropriation of funds and also on encouraging anti-religious elements to prevail.
Also, the deteriorating quality of the famous Laddu Prasadam often made headlines when Jagan was in power. The current Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu now made shocking allegations against the low quality ingredients used for preparation of Laddu in the last five years. During his media interaction earlier today, Naidu alleged that Animal Fat was used instead of Ghee in laddus of Tirumala temple. This is a huge revelation that is bound to trigger huge backlash from all quarters, especially the Hindu community.
Tirumala temple is regarded with so much of sanctity and reverence by Hindus. So, even a small deviation of norms would cause huge uproar. So, Naidu’s claims that Animal Fat was used in the making of Laddus will kick off a huge controversy and will damage the image of YSR Congress party among Hindu voters.
Chandrababu Naidu usually never makes any baseless allegations without having adequate proofs. So, this startling fact will surely gain huge traction and will hurt the sentiments of Hindus across the country. There is already massive demand to take strick action against the offenders who encouraged this bad tradition.
Naidu further asserted that as soon as the NDA government came to power, it instructed the TTD to use only pure ghee for Laddus. It is a known fact that soon after taking charge as Chief Minister, Naidu immediately took firm decisions on making sweeping changes to overhaul the board.
How the YSRCP responds on these explosive allegations needs to be seen because they have come directly from a Chief Minister.