"If Such Defiling Took Place In Masjid...": Pawan Kalyan On Tirupati Laddoo Row

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has started an 11-day penance till October 1, after which he plans to visit Tirumala to seek forgiveness of Lord Venkateswara for what he has called a "malafide attempt to infuse impurity in Tirupati prasadam".

His Jana Sena, an ally of the BJP, has called for the establishment of a Sanathan Dharm Parirakshan Parishad after reports that animal fat was found in cow ghee used to make Tirupati laddoo.

"If this kind of defiling had happened with a church or a masjid, the country would have been put in disarray. It would have become the talk of the world and a global news headline," Pawan Kalyan said.

"But when it has hurt the sentiments of crores of Hindus, they say we should not raise this issue because we are secular. Don't Hindus have sentiments?" he added.

The row over the laddoos erupted last week when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's TDP red-flagged a report from a state-run lab in Gujarat, which said samples of the ghee from Tirupati tested positive for fish oil, beef tallow, and lard during the rule of theb erstwhile government of YS Jaganmohan Reddy . The report was dated July 17 – Mr Reddy's YSR Congress has pointed to, questioning the delay.

Mr Reddy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the Chief minister was attempting to irreparably tarnish the sanctity, integrity and reputation of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.

Mr Reddy said Mr Naidu knew that the ghee of questionable quality was not used and accused him of making false allegations.

For the raw material for Tirupati Prasad, the same process of e-tendering every six months has been followed during the TDP and YSRCP rule. The contract is given to the lowest bidder.

Every tanker comes with NABL certificate and after that, the TTD does three mandatory tests before the ghee can be used. Tankers have been rejected multiple times earlier -- 14-15 times during the rule of the Telugu Desam Party and 18 times during YSRCP rule.

Mr Reddy has alleged that the NDDB CALF lab report came on July 23 and was not conclusive for presence of animal fat.

Yet Mr Naidu had chosen to speak about it almost two months later, besmirching the sanctity and prestige of TTD and Hindu sentiments for political ends, he added.

The TTD EO has said the four cow ghee tankers suspected to be adulterated were kept aside and it is samples from those tankers that had shown presence of animal fat.