Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: The leaders and cadres of the YSR Congress Party across Andhra Pradesh on Saturday conducted ‘forgiveness rituals” to ‘atone’ for the alleged ‘sin’ committed by Mr N Chandrababu Naidu by casting aspersions on the sanctity of the “prasadam” of the famed Tirupati temple even as the party challenged the incumbent chief minister to agree to a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the alleged adulterated laddoo row.
Mr Naidu had alleged during a recent NDA legislative party meeting that the erstwhile YSRCP government did not even spare Sri Venkateswara temple and used substandard ingredients and animal fats for making laddoos distributed as “prasadam” to the devotees coming for a darshan at the temple.
The allegations sparked a massive controversy across the country, hurting the sentiments of crores of Hindus. Following the nationwide uproar, YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy alleged that Mr Naidu was blatantly lying about laddoos and said the alleged sacrilege did not occur at all while the ghee samples sent for testing were drawn under the NDA regime.
Consequently, Mr Reddy called on his party cadres to undertake atonement rituals for undoing the alleged ‘sin’ committed by Mr Naidu through his allegations even as he cancelled his schedule visit to the temple on Saturday after the ruling TDP and its ally the BJP raised questions on his religion.
YSR Congress Party MLC Botcha Satyanarayana said if Mr Naidu really has proofs over the alleged adulteration, what stopped him from seeking an inquiry monitored by the Supreme Court. He alleged that the NDA government deliberately created a tense atmosphere after former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that he would visit Tirumala. BJP leaders from other states were brought in huge numbers to Andhra Pradesh to create law and order issues, while all the YSRCP leaders from Rayalaseema were placed under house arrest, he alleged.
The former minister said in order to ensure there were no law and order issues and not to inconvenience other devotees, Mr Jagan Reddy had postponed his visit. He alleged that the NDA government has completely failed in fulfilling the election promises especially the Super Six welfare schemes. In order to divert people’s attention from its failure, the State government has created a fake propaganda of Tirupati laddoo controversy hurting the sentiments of Hindus, Mr Satyanarayana alleged.
The YSRCP, the Congress, and the Left have questioned why the finding of the lab reports were kept under wraps till September when the tankers allegedly containing the adulterated ghee were seized in mid-July and that the results of the tests had come out by the end of July. The opposition parties allege that Mr Naidu has not been able to achieve much in the last 100 days and now wants to use this to divert attention from his shortcomings. They also believe that he is raking it up to so that the TDP and the BJP can together target Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy while whipping up Hindu sentiments.
In the atonement rituals, senior YSRCP leader and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chairman B Karunakar Reddy participated in prayers at Gangamma temple at Tatayya Gunta in Tirupati, while former Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu offered prayers at Venkateswara Swamy temple in Guntur, among others.
Speaking to a vernacular news channel, YSRCP leader M Sharmila Reddy, said, “Mr Naidu dragged God also into politics and created a big ruckus out of an incident that never happened. I am asking one thing. Who was the chief minister when those ghee consignments [alleged adulterated ghee tankers] came?” Opposing Mr Naidu’s allegations, several YSRCP supporters and activists conducted special poojas (rituals) in Eluru district.