BJP-TDP row over Tirumala priest exit

HYDERABAD: The forced retirement of the head priest at India’s richest shrine, the Lord Venkateshwara temple atop the Tirumala hills in Andhra Pradesh, has sparked a political slugfest between the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its erstwhile political ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

AV Ramana Deekshitulu was forced into retirement within a day of alleging that there were financial irregularities in the temple’s administration. The TDP suspected that the 70-year old Deekshitulu had the backing of the Bjp-led government at the Centre, which it said has been trying to gain control over the Tirumala temple. “Some powerful forces in Delhi are behind Deekshitulu’s allegations on siphoning of temple funds and destruction of temple sanctity,” said Vemuri Ananda Surya, TDP leader and chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Brahmin Parishad.

Rebutting the allegations, the BJP said it was the TDP which was destroying the autonomy of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the temple. “We have only been opposing the politicisation of the temple rituals,” BJP general secretary Jammula Shyam Kishore

said, alleging that the TTD trust board, which is politically appointed, interferes in the duties of the priests.

The Tirumala temple attracts millions of visitors every year who deposit cash donations in a cylinder-shaped chest placed on the northern side of the inner temple complex. The number of visitors in 2017 increased 26. 7 million from 26 million in 2016. Cash collection dipped by ₹50.39 crore from a year earlier to ₹995.89 crore in 2017, a fall blamed on demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November 2016. The newly constituted trust board of the TTD headed by senior TDP leader Putta Sudhakar Yadav, in its first meeting on Wednesday, decided to enforce a retirement age of 65 years for all Archakas (priests) in the Tirumala temple. Deekshitulu described it as a political decision and an act of vengeance against him for exposing irregularities in the TTD. “I will challenge it in a court of law,” he said. tions. It is a lifetime service and so the normal retirement rules do not apply to them,” he said.

TDP leaders questioned the propriety of Deekshitulu in making the allegations against the TTD after keeping silent all these years. “Why should he go to Chennai and address a press conference arranged by the BJP leaders? What is the hidden agenda in speaking against the TTD only after the constitution of the new trust board? Has he found irregularities only in the last four years of TDP rule,” Surya asked.

He said Deekshitulu’s allegations were part of the BJP’S attempt to gain control over all the systems in the country. “Very recently, it tried to bring the Tirumala temple under the purview of Archaeological Survey of India, but backtracked fearing reprisals from devotees,” he said.

The TDP also dragged the YSR Congress (YSRC) party into the political squabble. It has been alleging that the BJP was hand in glove with the Opposition party.

“Deekshitulu is a supporter of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Very recently, he conducted a puja at the residence of YSRC leader and former TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy. A head priest of Tirumala temple is not supposed to attend any private functions,” he alleged.