New Delhi:
Union Health Minister JP Nadda has asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for a “detailed report” on allegations there was animal fat in ghee used to make the Tirupati laddoos. The laddoos are ‘prasadam‘ to the deity at the temple and offered to crores of devotees who visit every year.
Food Minister Pralhad Joshi, meanwhile, called for a thorough inquiry. “Whatever the Chief Minister said is a matter of serious concern. A detailed enquiry is required and the culprit should be punished.”
Mr Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party this week cited a July report from a government-run lab in Gujarat that said samples of the ghee used when his rival – YSR Congress Party boss YS Jagan Mohan Reddy – was in power, contained traces of beef tallow, fish oil, and pig fat, or lard.
Chandrababu Naidu and his deputy, Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan, have ripped into the YSRCP, accusing Jagan Mohan Reddy of desecrating the temple and ‘sanatan dharm‘.
The Bharatiya Janata Party – allied with the TDP and Jana Sena at the centre – has been even more forceful in its criticism, with Union Minister and National General Secretary Sanjay Bandi calling it an “unforgivable sin”. He also claimed a communal angle, alleging adulteration of the ghee was because “few people from other religions (had been) inducted” into the board
Bhanu Prakash Reddy, a BJP MP who was on the board of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam – the government trust that manages the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple and others in the state – also raged, demanding a police complaint be filed against the former Chief Minister.
The YSR Congress, meanwhile, has hit back hard against the flood of allegations.
Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy, who was Chairperson of the TTD for four years, said it is “unimaginable to even say ‘animal fat was used in consecrated food offered daily to the deity and in laddoos given to devotees'”. Mr Reddy blasted the Chief Minister for the “heinous’ claim.
Mr Reddy also declared that it was Chandrababu Naidu, in fact, who had damaged the sanctity of the temple, and affected crores of devotees, by making such outrageous comments.
Another senior party leader, Karunakar Reddy, who served two terms as TTD Chairperson, said the TDP government’s claims amounted to political vendetta against Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The Congress – thumped in the Assembly election held earlier this year, after failing to win any of the 159 seats it contested – has been relatively quiet so far.
The party’s state unit boss, YS Sharmila, has called for the Central Bureau of Investigation to establish the allegation.
“If there are no political angles to your allegations… if you have no intention of playing politics on this issue… form a high-level committee or call for a CBI inquiry. The Congress demands you find out the truth,” she said on X.
