The Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict over Tirupati laddu row on Friday. Meanwhile, former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy criticized Naidu for hurting the sentiments of devotees by making allegedly false comments on Tirupati Venkateshwara temple prasadam.
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s verdict, Naidu said in a post on X, “I welcome the Honourable Supreme Court’s order of setting up SIT, comprising officers from CBI, AP Police and FSSAI to investigate the issue of adulteration of Tirupati laddu. Satyamev Jayate. Om Namo Venkatesaya.”
Hearing pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged adulteration in making prasadam at the famous temple, the apex court ordered the formation of a five-member Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged adulteration. The SIT will include two CBI officers, two Andhra Pradesh police officers and a senior officer from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. The Court observed an independent probe will instil confidence in the minds of devotees.
The SC bench observed that the allegation has the potential of hurting sentiments of people worldwide and it did not go into allegations and counter-allegations by different political fronts.
Meanwhile, welcoming the verdict, former CM Reddy accused Naidu of hurting Hindu sentiments by making false allegations about the production of laddus at the temple. "The Supreme Court highlighted the comments made by CM Chandrababu Naidu, stating that they hurt the sentiments of Hindus and warned against using religious matters for political drama,” ANI reported quoting Reddy.
“The sanctity of TTD and prasadam was damaged by Chandrababu Naidu's false comments. Even the courts questioned Chandrababu Naidu for making allegations on TTD,” he added.
Chandrababu Naidu kicked up a row recently and alleged poor quality ghee adulterated with fish oil and beef tallow was used for making of laddus at Tirupati temple during Reddy's term. Lab results confirmed the presence of adulterants in the ghee.