The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken serious exception to TTD trust board member and Penamaluru MLA Kolusu Parthasarathy attending Christmas festivities scheduled for Wednesday in Krishna district as the chief guest.
BJP leaders demanded that Mr. Parthasarathy step down from his position in the TTD before attending events pertaining to other faiths, claiming that it involved the religious sentiments of crores of Hindu devotees.
At a press conference here on Tuesday, the party’s State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy displayed a controversial poster being circulated on social media in which the MLA is named as the chief guest. Similarly, the invitee for the event is N. Satish, trust board member of Indrakeeladri Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Devasthanam in Vijayawada.
“What message will this send to Hindus if people from revered temples attend such festivities? Is it a tacit invitation to the gullible among Hindus to convert their faith?”, Mr. Reddy asked, adding that BJP workers would obstruct Mr. Parthasarathy at Alipiri and prevent him from attending future meetings of the TTD trust board at Tirumala if he went ahead with his plans to attend Christmas festivities.
Warning to employees
Claiming that several TTD employees were ‘discreetly practising’ Christianity while merely professing to be Hindus, the party issued a veiled warning that it would be on the lookout for such employees and would lodge a complaint with the Vigilance Department.
“Those drawing salary from Lord Venkateswara’s coffers need to abide by the law,” he said.
While maintaining that he had nothing to do with people of alien faith employed at TTD, he said the party had always maintained that such employees be sent on deputation to other departments in the government, without any harm to their service record.
Last year, the TTD had already identified and issued a show-cause notice to such employees, but the issue hit a roadblock with the latter moving the court. “The TTD has a fully-equipped law department, which should take up the issue with due seriousness to take the case to its logical end,” he demanded. Tirupati Parliamentary constituency in-charge S. Dayakar Reddy and media committee member G. Pushpalatha took part.
