The Telugu Desam Party-led National Democratic Alliance government under Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is likely to refer the case of adulteration of ghee used in cooking the famous Tirumala laddu during the previous government to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
This was hinted by TDP general secretary and State Human Resource Development and IT Minister Nara Lokesh while interacting with the media on the latest controversy on Saturday.
“It is the government’s responsibility to investigate the alleged adulteration of ghee used in preparing Tirumala laddu and there is no room for compromise,” he said.
Lokesh said that there have been demands from all quarters for a comprehensive CBI probe into the Tirumala laddu adulteration case and the government is in favour of the same.
“We will take a positive decision in this regard. The Prime Minister will take a decision soon to entrust the CBI with the investigation. There is no way that anyone can be overlooked in this regard,” he said.
Lokesh also announced that the government will announce a new policy regarding the system to be followed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and preparation of prasadam to be offered to Lord Venkateswara.
“We have started work in this regard. It is not possible to bring about fundamental changes in the system overnight. It will take time. We will adopt specific policies to prevent recurrence of incidents like forgery of prasadam,” he said.
The state’s IT minister said the laboratory report clearly proved that the ghee used to make the laddus was adulterated with animal fat.
“This has basically happened due to undue interference by the previous government in the day-to-day running of the TTD. There has never been such interference by the state chief minister in the past,” he said.
