Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday urged the State government to scrap the newly-formed 81-member trust board of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), calling it ‘oversized’ and an affront to the sentiments of devotees.
Mr. Naidu wrote a letter to Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in this regard on Friday, urging the latter to ‘not misuse the TTD for political and personal advantage’.
“Appointing tainted persons to the governing body is condemnable. Conversion of the pious Seven Hills into a hub of commercial interest is regrettable. The Board has been turned into a rehabilitation centre for politically unemployed persons,” Mr. Naidu alleged.
The former Chief Minister said that appointing persons who are facing CBI trials to the TTD trust board was highly objectionable. “Importance should be given to those who are known for their devotional fervour and a spirit of ‘Swamivari Seva’. The TDP strongly condemns the filling of the TTD Board with businessmen with questionable credentials, corrupt persons, criminals and tainted individuals. No other Chief Minister in the past had even thought of forming such a jumbo-sized board,” Mr. Naidu said, calling for the formation of a new board in accordance with the traditions and sentiments of the devotees.
