Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council has witnessed a fresh row over the religion of the former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy leading to a chaos in the House. Opposition YSRC members became one in demanding the dismissal of Agriculture minister K. Atchannaidu from the AP Cabinet.
It began when council chairman Koyye Moshenu Raju asked Endowments minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy to reply to the short discussion TTD laddu prasadam and make a statement as well.
YSRC member Lella Appi Reddy intervened, mentioning how social media has targeted the council chairman over Wednesday’s development in the Legislative Council, asking Moshenu Raju to confirm his religious identity.
The Council chairman asked Appi Reddy to give him a written complaint, which would be forwarded to the government with a recommendation to initiate appropriate action against the erring social media platforms. Other YSRC members too blamed TD senior leaders for trolling the council chairman on social media.
Agriculture minister K. Atchannaidu intervened to say that though he (Atchannaidu) had asked former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to confirm his religious identity, the latter has not responded even after 24 hours have passed. The agriculture minister went on to accuse Jagan Mohan Reddy of conspiring and undermining the sanctity of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
Atchannaidu asked why the ex-CM failed to follow the tradition of the TTD to sign on the declaration during his visit to Lord Venkateswara’s Temple in Tirumala. He declared that AP had been ruled by several chief ministers and even the British, but none had affected the sanctity of the TTD.
The agriculture minister went on to say, “I am sure that Jagan Mohan Reddy is a Christian. If he is not, let him come and declare that he is not a Christian.”
In protest, the opposition YSRC members stood up and some trooped into the well of the house and raised slogans, demanding the dismissal of Atchannaidu from the Cabinet, for trying to target their leader by asking for his religious identity and making baseless allegations.
Amid this, with the chairman allowing the endowments minister to give his reply to the discussion on TTD laddu prasadam, Ramanarayana Reddy flayed the previous YSRC regime for making a blatant assault on the sanctity of Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala.
The endowments minister maintained that no amount of conspiracy will dim the divinity of the deity or the holy hills. He underlined that those who had tried to do so have already paid a steep price with their strength in the Assembly reducing to 11 from the earlier 151.
Ramanarayana Reddy said TTD witnessed a massive scandal in the supply of adulterated ghee to Tirumala and the CBI’s SIT has filed a chargesheet naming 36 people in the case.