National Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rajya Sabha MP, GVL Narasimha Rao, has slammed the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, after a video emerged of a senior minister in his cabinet demanding that Ramana Deekshitulu be arrested and thrashed after the former chief priest at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam made a series of allegations against the state government and Temple administration and accused them of corruption.
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GVL Narasimha Rao linked Chandrababu Naidu to Tipu Sultan and the Nizam and wondered if the real cause of insensitivity towards the former chief priest is that the state government has skeletons in its closet that it does not want to be exposed. Rao told reporters on Friday, “The TDP is interfering in the TTD administrative affairs as if the temple is another political outfit. If the State government does not have anything to hide and no one to protect, it should immediately come forward to probe the allegations.” Rao also slammed the state government for sacking the priest claiming they had no authority to do so. “They interpreted GO 611 as per their convenience and decided to sack the priests. Who are they (government authorities) to remove the priests who are not even government employees?” he said.
We had reported earlier that Ramana Deekshitulu had accused the state government and Temple administration of impropriety and corruption and also rued the fact that the authorities had no respect for the scriptures and traditions. Since then, Jaganmohan Reddy, leader of Opposition in the AP Assembly, has asserted that the controversy surrounding the TTD is evidence of Chief Minister Naidu’s lust for money and power. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has also come out in support of the sacked chief priest and stated that he will move the Supreme Court against the state government’s decision to sack him and request a Court-monitored CBI investigation into the matter.