TDP leader hits back at YSRCP on Tirumala laddu issue

TDP State president Palla Srinivasa Rao on Thursday accused the YSRCP of engineering a “calculated political smokescreen” to escape accountability in the alleged adulterated ghee scandal linked to the preparation of Tirumala laddu prasadam.

Addressing a press conference in Amaravati on Friday, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said the findings emerging from the CBI inquiry exposed a “systemic administrative collapse” under the previous YSRCP regime.

“The alleged use of adulterated ghee in the preparation of prasadam at the shrine administered by the TTD was not a procedural lapse but a breach that shook the moral foundation of institutional faith,” he said.

Mr. Srinivasa Rao accused the YSRCP leadership of dragging Heritage Foods into the controversy to divert attention from the core issue of accountability within temple administration. He dismissed as “unsupported and speculative” claims that Heritage had supplied adulterated ghee to Tirumala. Assertions suggesting ownership linkages between Heritage and a Maharashtra-based dairy unit were, he said, circulated without documentary substantiation.

The TDP leader pointed to statements attributed to former TTD Chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy acknowledging irregularities in the matter. “If irregularities are admitted, then accountability cannot be outsourced,” he said, accusing the YSRCP of attempting to shift focus rather than address the administrative chain of responsibility.

He expressed confidence that the full sequence of events surrounding the adulterated ghee allegations would be established and that responsibility would be fixed in accordance with law.