TTD fails to rein in errant chief priest
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Ramana Dikshitulu, the chief priest of Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, seems to have become a habitual violator of temple traditions and practices with the government taking no action against him except issuing memos. A few days ago, he visited Ananth, the son of industrial giant Mukesh Ambani, at the guest house he was staying in and blessed him — a privilege the Ambani family gets frequently from Mr Dikshitulu.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams authorities had served a charge memo on the chief priest on an earlier occasion for blessing Mr Mukesh Ambani in a similar manner. But this time the TTD did nothing. A senior TTD official observed that even if a memo is served, the chief priest chooses not to respond. This reflects on the inability of the TTD to rein in the priest. Sources said Mr Dikshitulu has been served memos at least four times in the past. The charges relate to performing yagnas privately for VVIPs, accepting expensive gifts from devotees, and visiting guest houses and offering blessings to the rich and influential. “He did not reply to the memos,” a TTD official confirmed.
Sources said Mr Dikshitulu enjoyed tremendous clout during the YSR regime and the present Chief Minister does not want to “disturb” the chief priest’s supremacy. Significantly, the chief priest and three other families, which traditionally perform poojas to the main deity, have preferred to remain outside the TTD and did not accept the proposal to become employees by accepting pay cheques. When the Supreme Court gave a ruling that they should be treated as TTD employees, Mr Dikshitulu and the others filed a review petition, on which there are no orders from the apex court. “Yet the TTD failed to take any steps to discipline Mr Dikshitulu,” sources said.
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