Ghee adulteration row: A.P. govt. discussing ways to consecrate Tirumala temple, says CM

Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu accuses YSRCP of adulterating ghee for Tirumala Laddu Prasadam, vows action against culprits.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu suggested that the instructions given to the management of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to cut costs led to the adulteration of ghee used in the preparation of the highly revered LadduPrasadam during the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) rule, and insisted that his predecessor and YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should give a plausible explanation for what had happened instead of hitting back at the present government with fall pretences. 

“We are discussing with religious heads and scholars of Sanatana Dharma on how to consecrate the Tirumala temple, and will have the quality of the Prasadam tested in all temples in the State,” he said, while pointing out that previous attempts to make laddus that matched the quality of the ones prepared for TTD, at the Ayodhya temple had failed. 

In a brief chat with media persons at the TDP office near Mangalagiri in Guntur district on Saturday (September 21), Mr. Naidu said the NDA government in Andhra Pradesh had always given utmost importance to preserving the sanctity of temples and the sentiments of devotees, and it would not spare those responsible for the adulteration of ghee used by the TTD, with animal fat. 

He said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and other YSRCP leaders were taken aback by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) report on the ghee samples, and questioned how the pricey commodity could be obtained at just ₹320 a kg and what prompted the then government to go for reverse tendering in its procurement.

“Soon after taking the reins earlier this year, I instructed the TTD’s new Executive Officer (EO) to streamline the Tirumala temple administration and he (the EO) took various steps, including those for improvement of the quality of the Laddu Prasadam, blacklisted several companies supplying ghee and other ingredients of substandard quality, and resumed purchasing Nandini ghee, a product of Mandya District Cooperative Milk Producers Society’s Union Limited,” Mr. Naidu stated.

He sought to know how Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy could endorse Rajya Sabha member and TTD former chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy’s claim that the ghee was not adulterated, and to what extent the traditions were followed at the Tirumala temple when the YSRCP was in power. Former CM Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had argued that the number of Tirumala hills was only two and not seven, Mr. Naidu recalled. 

The CM went on to say that every religion had its own traditions and customs, and it was the government’s responsibility to protect them, and that several violations took place in temples during the YSRCP regime, when no action was taken against the miscreants who desecrated temples that peaked with the removal of the head of the idol of Sri Rama at the historic Ramateertham temple in Vizianagaram district.