Union Health Minister JP Nadda has asked a “detailed report” from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu regarding allegations that animal fat was present in the ghee used to prepare Tirupati laddoos. These laddoos are ‘prasadam’ offered to the deity at the temple and are presented to millions of devotees each year.
Food Minister Pralhad Joshi has called for a thorough inquiry into the matter. “What the Chief Minister said is a serious concern. A detailed investigation is necessary, and those responsible should be punished,” he stated.
Mr. Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party has referred to a July report from a government-run lab in Gujarat, which indicated that samples of the ghee used during the tenure of his rival, YSR Congress Party leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, contained traces of beef tallow, fish oil, and pig fat (lard).
Chandrababu Naidu and his deputy, Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan, have ripped into the YSRCP, accusing Jagan Mohan Reddy of desecrating the temple and ‘sanatan dharm’.
The Bharatiya Janata Party – allied with the TDP and Jana Sena at the centre – has been even more forceful in its criticism, with Union Minister and National General Secretary Sanjay Bandi calling it an “unforgivable sin”. He also claimed a communal angle, alleging adulteration of the ghee was because “few people from other religions (had been) inducted” into the board.
Bhanu Prakash Reddy, a BJP MP who was on the board of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam – the government trust that manages the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple and others in the state – also raged, demanding a police complaint be filed against the former Chief Minister.\
The YSR Congress, meanwhile, has hit back hard against the flood of allegations.
Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy, who was Chairperson of the TTD for four years, said it is “unimaginable to even say ‘animal fat was used in consecrated food offered daily to the deity and in laddoos given to devotees'”.
Mr Reddy blasted the Chief Minister for the “heinous’ claim.
Mr Reddy also declared that it was Chandrababu Naidu, in fact, who had damaged the sanctity of the temple, and affected crores of devotees, by making such outrageous comments.
Andhra Government Cites Lab Report in Tirupati Laddoo-Animal Fat Controversy
Another senior party leader, Karunakar Reddy, a former TTD Chairperson, claimed that the TDP government’s assertions are an act of political vendetta against Jagan Mohan Reddy. Meanwhile, the Congress party, which was thumped in the Assembly elections earlier this year after failing to secure any of the 159 seats it contested, has remained relatively quiet. The party’s state unit leader, YS Sharmila, has called for the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the allegations.
“If there are no political angles to your allegations… if you have no intention of playing politics on this issue… form a high-level committee or call for a CBI inquiry. The Congress demands you find out the truth,” she said on X.