TDP, BJP oppose TTDs 'jumbo' board, call appointments 'political patronage'

The TDP and BJP in Andhra Pradesh are opposing the newly restructured TTD board, after the Jaganmohan Reddy government appointed a jumbo panel with an unprecedented 81 members, including the chairman and a whopping 52 special invitees.

The opposition parties are alleging that the regular member appointments smack of political patronage with the inclusion of “several dubious elements including the chief minister's business partners and those with criminal antecedents.”

After Jagan became the chief minister in 2019, the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams' (TTD) board of trustees’ composition went up from 19 to 36 members, including seven special invitees.

Former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has slammed his successor for further expanding the board this time to a jumbo scale, “to serve selfish political and business interests.”

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board oversees the management of the famous Tirumala Venkateshwara Swamy temple, which churns out an annual revenue of about Rs 3,000 crore. A name on the board, reconstituted every two years, has become a symbol of clout lately.

“In place of the spiritual and service-oriented personalities, industrialists, politicians including some of those tainted with CBI cases have been accommodated in the TTD. Sentiments of crores of devotees are hurt and the board's sanctity is tarnished as it has become a haven for the politically unemployed leaders,” Naidu said in a letter to Jagan, demanding that the board be reconstituted immediately with inclusion of desirable persons.

While Reddy had last month reappointed his uncle YV Subba Reddy as the chairman in three separate government orders issued last week, a new board was formed with 24 regular members, four ex-officio members including senior bureaucrats.

Former BCCI chairman and India Cements MD N Srinivasan, Hetero Group chairman Parthasaradhi Reddy are among those who have been renominated as trustees.

However, in a surprising move, Jagan's administration has added 52 special invitees, who would be extended the same privileges on par with the TTD trust members and their tenure is also co-terminus.

The BJP said that the “promotion of such VVIP culture vitiates the sanctity of the Lord's abode and the special invitees would be a drag on the TTD administration.”

“TTD board was functioning well for decades without such invitees, so the claim that they would serve devotee interests is bogus. In fact, devotees have to suffer as the friends, followers of special invitees are sure to grab the darshsan time,” AP BJP chief Somu Veerraju said.

In his representation on Monday, Somu asked governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan to instruct the state government to withdraw the 52 special invitee appointments immediately.

Meanwhile, Bhanuprakasah Reddy, a BJP leader and former TTD board member told DH that he has approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court with a PIL challenging the new TTD board composition as “illegal, arbitrary, and violative of the provisions of The Andhra Pradesh Charitable & Hindu Religious Institutions & Endowments Act, 1987.”

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