The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took strong objection to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) decision to spend 1% of its budget on development of Tirupati.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, BJP spokesperson Sadineni Yamini Sarma said that the TTD was hurting the sentiments of the Hindus, who donate hard earned money to the temple.
The TTD was turning the Tirumala temple into a money spinner instead of protecting its sanctity and developing it as a spiritual centre. Not a single day passes without hurting the sentiments of the devotees and Hindus. There was no scope for spending 1% as per the bylaws of the TTD. Now, they say 1% and tomorrow it would be 10 or 50% and beyond. The devotees fear that the TTD coffers would go dry and would not have any funds at its disposal to meet the expenses towards dhoopa deepa naivedya at Tirumala. If similar trends continued in other temples, who would be responsible for the donations given by the devotees? She asked.
Ms. Yamini Sarma said that the BJP was not against the payment of salaries of employees and development of Tirupati. But, why should TTD utilise its funds for the same? The Union government has been releasing crores of rupees under the Smart city scheme. Also, the people and traders/businessmen were paying taxes. Where was that money going? The government argues that it was utilising the TTD funds for employees in view of the devotees rush. In fact, the government should pay to the TTD if thousands of crores of business and taxes it was collecting were to be considered, she said.
The TTD chairman and Trust Board appointments have become political rehabilitation centres, and their decisions were not acceptable. The BJP would oppose the decisions tooth and nail and fight against it, she added.
