Heritage Foods never supplied ghee to TTD, says B.R. Naidu

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Chairman B.R. Naidu has reiterated that Heritage Foods, belonging to the family of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, never supplied ghee to the TTD, either directly or indirectly.

The claim assumes significance in view of the ongoing rift between the ruling NDA government and the YSRCP in the Legislative Council over the award of ghee supply contract to Indapur Dairy of Maharashtra.

Mr. B.R. Naidu accused the YSRCP of making frivolous charges against the ruling dispensation in a desperate bid to divert public attention from its “corrupt role” in ghee supply during its regime.

Taking on Leader of Opposition in the Council Botcha Satyanarayana, the TTD Chairman wondered how a senior politician could make flimsy allegations in a sensitive issue like ghee supply to the TTD, just to toe the party’s line. “Trying to link Indapur Dairy to Heritage Foods is a mischievous attempt,” he observed.

‘Absurd claims’

TDP Polit Bureau member R. Srinivasa Reddy flayed the YSRCP’s “continued attempts” to tarnish the image of Heritage Foods.

“Having tarnished the image of the TTD during its regime by distancing Lord Venkateswara from the common devotees, by stealing from the Parakamani (counting of offerings made into Srivari Hundi), and by adulterating the ghee used to make the sacred laddu prasadam, the party has now shifted its focus on Heritage Foods,” he charged.

Calling Heritage Foods as a reputed organisation that bagged several awards for being run systematically for decades, Mr. Srinivasa Reddy flayed YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for making absurd claims on Tirumala laddu row.

“What they can do is merely disrupt the proceedings in the Council where they have a majority, but they dare not step inside the Legislative Assembly,” he remarked.