Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Wednesday finally lodged an official police complaint against AR Dairy which allegedly had supplied adulterated ghee for the preparation of laddu prasadam. Meanwhile, the YSRCP has urged devotees across Andhra Pradesh to participate in temple pujas on 28 September, to restore the sanctity of Tirumala which was allegedly tarnished by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu with his remark about the purported animal fat in laddu prasadam.
Almost two months after the lab report that suggested that beef tallow, lard and fish oil might have been in the adulterated ghee, TTD’s procurement general manager Murali Krishna filed a complaint with Tirupati (East) police station against the Dindigul-based AR Dairy which is accused of supplying adulterated ghee for making laddu prasadam.
The move comes after the state government announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Inspector General of Guntur range, Sarvashresth Tripathi to probe into the supply of adulterated ghee. The SIT members also included Deputy Inspector General of Vizag range, Gopinath Jetty and Superintendent of Police of Kadapa, Harshavardhan Raju.
After Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s Deeksha to restore the sanctity of the temple tarnished by the previous regime YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who blamed Naidu for the false propaganda, issued an appeal on micro-blogging site ‘X’ to devotees. He wrote, “The sanctity of Tirumala, the significance of Swami’s prasadam, the glory of Venkateshwara, the fame of TTD, the sacredness of the laddu prasadam of Lord Venkateswara were all defiled by Chandrababu Naidu who, with, political malice, deliberately spread lies that the prasadam was adulterated with animal fat and that devotees had consumed such tainted prasadam.”
He then added “In order to cleanse this sin committed by Chandrababu Naidu, the YSRCP is calling for participation in pujas across temples statewide on Saturday, 28 September.”
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Congress chief YS Sharmila took out a protest at Vijayawada Dharna Chowk demanding the implementation of ‘Super Six’, promised by Chandrababu Naidu in the elections. Sharmila called it a super flop government for failing to implement the electoral promises. The state which is teetering at the edge of bankruptcy, did not even present a full-fledged Budget so far.