Andhra govt dismisses charges of irregularities at Tirumala
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday said there were no lapses by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the temple board that controls the Venkateshwara temple in Tirumala, with regard to the temple’s administration.
Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu held a high-level review meeting with officials of the TTD and the endowments department in Amaravati on Tuesday.
The meet comes after the temple’s former head priest AV Ramana Deekshitulu, who was removed from service with three others last week, alleged irregularities in the temple’s administration and missing jewellery.
The four were removed after the age of retirement from service was fixed at 65.
Deekshitulu may move the Supreme Court challenging the removal, sources familiar with developments said.
During the meeting, Naidu asked the TTD authorities to see that there were no controversies over the temple’s daily rituals and that the sanctity of the temple was maintained.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, TTD executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal said there was no evidence of any misappro- priation of funds. “Every rupee that the TTD spends has been recorded and as such, there was no misuse of funds,” Singhal said.
On allegations of missing ancient jewellery donated by various kings centuries ago, Singhal said there were records of the jewellery listed in 1952, which was endorsed by the Justice Wadhwa committee in 2010.
“Not a single ornament listed in the 1952 records is missing... We have already released the list of jewellery of Lord Venkateswara and we are ready to display the jewels ...” he said.
On the specific allegation of a pink diamond missing from the collection and that it was recently auctioned in Geneva, Singhal said there was no mention of any such diamond in the 1952 list.
Meanwhile, Deekshitulu’s removal and the allegations levelled by him took a political turn with the Opposition YSR Congress party and the Jana Sena Party demanding a CBI inquiry.
YSR Congress party MLA Kona Raghupathi and senior leader Malladi Vishnu held a meeting of Brahmin groups in Vijayawada on Monday and demanded a high-level probe.
Senior BJP leader and MP Subramanian Swamy also tweeted that he would move the SC against the sacking.
Ruling TDP MLA Bonda Uma however, said, “Why has Deekshitulu been silent all these years? It is very clear that the BJP is trying to trouble the TDP government by raking up needless controversies in Tirumala.”