Supreme Court To Hear Petitions Seeking Probe Into Row Over Tirupati Laddoos

After roiling the political arena for over a week, the row over animal fat allegedly being used to make the famed Tirupati laddoos will now be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday.

The petitions have been filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chairman YV Subba Reddy, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from the YSR Congress Party.

The party has been the focal point of attacks since Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu claimed last week that animal fat was used to make the sought-after laddoos given as 'prasad' by the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati under the previous YSR Congress government led by Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Both Mr Swamy and YV Subba Reddy have requested a court-monitored probe into the allegations and their petitions will be heard by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan. 

In his Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed earlier this week, the BJP leader requested the Supreme Court to direct the Andhra Pradesh government to file a detailed report on the ghee used for making the laddoos, and also sought a detailed forensic report. The state government had cited a report by a laboratory in Gujarat to claim that the ghee used in the laddoos contained traces of beef tallow, fish oil, and lard (pig fat). 

"There ought to have been checks and balances internally to supervise and verify and check the quality or the lack of it, of the suppliers supplying various ingredients to the temple which go into the making of the prasad," the petition said. 

YV Subba Reddy also filed a PIL seeking an independent special investigation team (SIT) monitored by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe Mr Naidu's allegations. Mr Reddy, who has been at the forefront of his party's defence against the Andhra Pradesh chief minister's claims, has repeatedly said that no adulterated ghee was used in the making of the laddoos.

Row Escalates

On Friday, Mr Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy faced off over the cancellation of the YSR Congress Party chief's planned visit to the Tirupati Temple.

Mr Reddy was supposed to visit the temple on Saturday to atone for Mr Naidu's "sin" of making the adulteration allegations but said on Friday afternoon that he had decided to cancel because he had been denied permission and a notice to that effect had been served to him. The decision came amid Mr Naidu's TDP and the BJP demanding that the former chief minister sign a declaration meant for non-Hindus before visiting the temple.

The parties have said that according to the rules of the TTD,  which manages the Tirumala Tirupati temple, foreigners and non-Hindus should declare their reverence for Lord Venkateswara, to whom the shrine is dedicated, before praying there.

Claiming that the laddoo row was engineered to divert attention from the performance of Mr Naidu's government in its first 100 days, Mr Reddy said, "All the statements made by him (Mr Naidu) on the laddoos are proving to be a lie one after another. He has made a mistake and violated the sanctity of the temple. I have visited the Tirumala temple several times and he is now bringing up the declaration issue to divert the topic once again... The Tirumala laddoo is special and pure, and with a political motive he has said that it was made with animal fat." 

Retorting sharply, Mr Naidu accused Mr Reddy of "spreading lies" and said no notice had been given to him. "Did anyone stop you (Mr Reddy) from going? Show the notice to the media if you have it... Why are you spreading lies?" he said.