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Hyderabad: The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government has appointed some controversial names to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board of trustees in what has become the latest row to hit one of the world’s richest temples.

In an order issued Wednesday, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister named N. Srinivasan, former BCCI chairman and India Cements managing director, and B. Parthasaradhi Reddy, chairman of Hyderabad-based pharma group Hetero, among 24 trustees nominated to the board that manages the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirumala.

A second order was passed Thursday to appoint Chennai-based mining baron A.J. Sekhar alias Sekhar Reddy — who had been removed from the board in 2016 by the previous government after income tax raids against him — as a special invitee on the board.

Both Srinivasan and Reddy were co-accused, among several others, in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s quid pro quo case into the disproportionate assets of Jagan, in which the latter was jailed for 16 months from May 2012 and September 2013.

The case against Srinivasan, in which he had appeared before the CBI, is about India Cements’s alleged investments of about Rs 140 crore in Jagan’s companies like Jagati Publications (which runs Telugu newspaper Sakshi) in return for the benefit of land and water allocations for its units in the then united Andhra Pradesh.

According to a TTD official, who didn’t wish to be identified, there is another issue with Srinivasan’s appointment.

Srinivasan has served as a TTD board member for two full terms prior to this — during 2004-08, when Jagan’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the CM, and when the alleged quid pro quo dealings took place.

While a member is allowed a maximum of two terms on the board, Jagan’s government Wednesday made an exception in a section in the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 to accommodate Srinivasan.

The same exception has been applied to Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Narayana Murthy, who was also nominated to the TTD board Wednesday.

However, Murthy’s first term in 2017 was only for two months, according to the TTD official. Moreover, she had also resigned from the board during her second term soon after Reddy was elected in May, saying her appointment was by the previous government.

“If the new government invites me, I will join,” she reportedly said in June.

With its second order Thursday, the Jagan government added six more names besides Sekhar as special invitees, nearly doubling the composition of the Andhra Pradesh government-controlled TTD board of trustees from 19 to 36 members, including the chairman.

The new members are expected to take oath Monday.

Past issues with the board

The board of the Tirumala temple has remained in the headlines in the last few years over one controversy or the other.

Barely three months ago, the appointment of Y.V. Subba Reddy, a close relative of Jagan, as the TTD chairman created a storm in the state, especially on social media with opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supporters alleging him to be a Christian by belief.

The ruling YSR Congress party supporters had to release pictures of Subba Reddy donning black clothes doing the Sabarimala Ayyappa deeksha to quell the spreading suspicion.

When former CM and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu announced the name of Putta Sudhakar Yadav as the chairman in 2018, pictures of Yadav on the banner of an evangelical meet were circulated. Yadav had to address a press meet to reaffirm his Hindu faith.

The removal of A.J. Sekhar in 2016 following I-T raids in the aftermath of demonetisation had already put a question on the criteria followed by the state government for nomination of members.

Region also makes its presence felt in the TTD as the appointment of the present Executive Officer (EO) Anil Kumar Singhal, an IAS from north India, showed in 2017. The appointment by Naidu was opposed by a section of IAS officers and several TTD employees too voiced their concerns.

TTD was also in the news last month over reports of proselytisation and the employment of non-Hindus. Both are prohibited. To stem the intensifying protests from BJP and other Hindu organisations, Andhra Chief Secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam held a meeting with the officials and warned that surprise checks would be conducted in the houses of endowment department officials to ensure they are not practicing other religions.

Why the board matters

Membership on the board overseeing the functioning of the temple with over Rs 3,000 crore in annual revenues and 1 lakh pilgrim footfalls daily is a prestigious affair — a symbol of clout even in New Delhi where the demand for special darshans is high — and involves intense lobbying.

When the most probable on the state cabinet list misses out, the Telugu media customarily reports that the person could be named the TTD chairman, a much sought-after post. Members are drawn mainly from Andhra Pradesh (8 this time) and Telangana (7), with Tamil Nadu (4) and Karnataka (3) also getting proper representation.

This week, Delhi, represented for the first time, and Maharashtra have been given one member each by the Jagan government.

Most of the members this time from the two Telugu states are either politicians (MLAs or party leaders) or industrialists with close links to Jagan and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, which is creating displeasure among devotees. Even a certain K. Siva Kumar, who had registered the YSR Congress Party name but handed it over to Jagan in 2011, found a place on the new board.

What analysts are saying

The business-politics representation on the TTD board was always big, but the number looks bewildering after the expansion, say analysts.

“Given the past of the CBI cases and alleged association, Jagan should have avoided controversial names like Srinivasan on the list,” said academician and political commentator Subramanyam Dogiparthi, who is also an executive committee member of a Venkateshwara Swamy temple in Guntur.

“Such places of sanctity should not become centres of rehabilitation for politicians. Some of the industrialists like Jupalli Rameswara Rao are known to be devout and Sudha Murthy is recognised for service activities, but are all the members god fearing in all aspects?” Dogiparthi asked.

I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, former Andhra Pradesh chief secretary who also served as the executive officer of TTD earlier and in that capacity member secretary of the board, said, “While the need is of good people, with interest of dharma parirakshana on mind, the board members often lack the service commitment. There are past instances of some members selling the VIP darshan, special seva tickets in black.”

Rao, who joined the BJP last year, added, “(I don’t want to go into Srinivasan’s link with Jagan and the cases) but I know he is great devotee of the Lord and offered huge donations to the temple.”

(N.R. Narayana Murthy is among the distinguished investors of ThePrint. Click here for details on investors.)

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