The controversy over the Andhra Pradesh government's appointments to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) refuses to die down, as a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Hyderabad High Court on Monday.
The PIL challenged the appointment of TTD Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav and TDP MLA V Anitha as a member of the religious body's board. It was filed by members of the Hindu Chaitanya Samiti.
The petitioners alleged that Anitha was Christian while Sudhakar had gotten involved in 'non-Hindu' affairs and demanded that the Government Order (GO) which appointed them must be suspended.
This comes a day after TDP MLA V Anitha sent a letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asking him to cancel her recent appointment as a member of the TTD Board.
The letter was sent after opposition parties including the BJP began circulating a video on the internet, claiming that she was Christian.
The small video clip being circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp shows Anitha during an interview with Vanitha TV in 2014, where she seemingly says, "I'm Christian. Even now, there will be a Bible in my bag, and one in my car. I don't go out without it."
Dismissing these allegations in a press meet on Saturday, the Payakaraopeta legislator stated that she had always been a Hindu and had never converted to any other religion.
The MLA released her certificates which showed that she was a Hindu along with several photos of her over the years, from her visits to Tirumala.
In her letter on Sunday, Anitha reiterated that she was a Hindu and a big devotee of Lord Venkateswara but was being targeted for belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
Stating that she did not want the incident to blow up further, she thanked the CM and asked him to cancel her appointment.
During an earlier controversy, the BJP suggested that TTD Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav was a Christian.
The party also circulated visuals of Sudhakar at a Christian event.
The TTD Chairman later said that he participated in a Christian function in his capacity as a politician and not as a result of his personal faith.