YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy accused Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu of “unabashedly using the Tirumala temple and the sacred ‘Srivari Laddu’ as tools for his political gain”.
Mr. Reddy, who formerly headed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust Board when the said adulterated ghee supply was made, addressed the media here on Sunday, where he blamed Mr. Naidu for resorting to a ‘toxic campaign’ against former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“It is a deliberate and mischievous campaign launched to invoke Hindu sentiments with a malafide intention to cover up the NDA regime’s failures during the first 100 days of its governance,” Mr. Reddy said.
“This is an attempt to blatantly besmirch the Tirumala temple in a bid to portray the erstwhile YSRCP regime in poor light. Mr. Naidu will go to any extent to politically finish off Mr. Jagan,” he fumed.
The former TTD Chairman said that if the allegations were indeed true, whoever was behind it would face divine justice. “However, if the allegations are false, I leave it to the law,” he said, demanding a probe either by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a judge of the Supreme Court.
Recalling that TTD Executive Officer J. Syamala Rao had earlier confirmed the presence of vegetable oil in the samples, he wondered how he could now call it ‘animal fat’, insisting that the official had been arm-twisted into changing the narrative.
Published - September 22, 2024 07:15 pm IST
