The ongoing row over the Lord Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala seems never-ending, as Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) joint executive officer K S Srinivasa Raju on Friday lashed out at ex-chief priest Dr A V Ramana Deekshitulu, and said that the latter was ‘ruining his own reputation’.
Speaking to reporters in Tirumala at Annamaiah Bhavan, Raju said, “All the allegations he made are definitely false. Bringing the name of the Chief Minister or some ‘madam’ may not bring seriousness to the allegations, he should remember that... I request Dr Deekshitulu to spend the rest of his life peacefully. Serving that Lord all these years, Dr Deekshitulu has earned good fame. By making false allegations he is losing it.”
Responding to the allegations that jewellery went missing from the temple, Raju said that there were officials in the TTD who regularly checked the inventory in an orderly manner and recorded the entire process.
“When the temple remains open for nearly 22-and-a-half-hours a day, with not less than 65,000 pilgrims having darshan of the Lord, the allegations on safety of jewels do not arise and are totally baseless,” Raju was quoted as saying.
He also accused Deekshitulu of being informed of the facts, but intentionally misleading the public.
This development came even as actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Thursday alleged that the ‘stolen’ ornaments from Tirumala were smuggled to a country in the Middle East in a private carrier, which the TDP leaders were aware of.
The actor-politician alleged that a senior IPS officer told him about how the missing jewels were smuggled and claimed that even the TDP leaders knew about it.
Deekshithulu was sacked in May by authorities on the grounds that he exceeded the retirement age limit.
However, this unceremonious sacking came after he levelled shocking allegations against the TTD administration of financial irregularities, and also raised suspicion that several precious ornaments from the temple were missing.
He further demanded a CBI inquiry, and also pressed for bringing the TTD under the ambit of the RTI for transparency.