Tirumala Temple Chairman: The newly appointed Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Board, BR Naidu, on Thursday asserted that only Hindus should be employed at the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. He further said he would seek deliberations with the Andhra Pradesh government to ensure that non-Hindu staff members of the temple are either transferred to other government departments or given voluntary retirement.
"Everyone who works at Tirumala should be Hindu. That would be my first effort. There are many issues in this. We have to look into that," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. BR Naidu also expressed gratitude towards Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and other members of the NDA government in Andhra Pradesh for appointing him to head the Board.
He also alleged that several irregularities took place at Tirumala during the regime of former CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. "I consider this a turning point in my life. The previous government made a lot of mistakes there. I did not go to Tirumala even once in 5 years because I felt that it did not have its sanctity. Earlier, I used to go to Tirumala 5-6 times a year. I have discussed with CM Chandrababu Naidu about these issues," he said.
BR Naidu runs several Telugu TV channels, including one focused on Hindu devotional content. The Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala became the centre stage of a massive controversy last month after CM Naidu alleged that substandard ingredients, including animal fat, were used in the preparation of the famed Tirupati laddus during Jagan's tenure at the helm of the state government.The TTD, which manages various temples in Tirumala-Tirupati and Tiruchanoor, including the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, was reconstituted by the state government on Wednesday. Suchitra Ella, Co-Founder and MD of Bharat Biotech International, is also among the newly appointed members of the temple management board
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