BJP and TDP spar over Tirupati head priest exit
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 Tirumalatemple.“Somepowerfulforces in Delhi are behind Deekshitulu’s allegations on siphoning of temple funds,” 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 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.
Former TTD executive officer IYR Krishna Rao said the decision of the trust board to enforce a retirement age for priests was against the rules.
“Priests are not government servants... 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 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.
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