Jagan cancels Tirumala visit amid demands for faith declaration

YSRCP supremo and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has cancelled his planned trip to the Tirupati Lord Venkateshwara Temple, sources close to him said on Friday.

His much hyped Tirumala tour was announced as part of the YSRCP's call for prayers in temples to atone for TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's 'sin' committed thanks to his allegations about the quality of Tirupati laddus offered as prasadam to devotees worldwide.

Sources close to Reddy confirmed that his visit to the hill shrine has been cancelled, but did not immediately divulge the reason behind the decision that came just a couple of hours before he was supposed to depart for the temple town.

The cancellation of Reddy's visit came amid demands by NDA allies in Andhra Pradesh that he should "declare his faith" before entering the temple.

At a press conference, Reddy — born into a Christian family — said everyone in the country knows his religion and he has visited Tirumala temple several times even before becoming the CM.

He said though he reads the Bible within the four walls of his home, he respects Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.

Reddy said TV reports are showing that thousands of police personnel were deployed in Tirupati to prevent his party's leaders from going to the temple. "In order to divert the failures of his (Chandrababu Naidu) 100-day rule and to divert attention, Chandrababu Naidu brought up the laddu issue. To cover up his failures on the laddu issue, he came up with the faith declaration issue. He intentionally planted seeds of doubts on the quality of laddus," Reddy said.

"I had the opportunity to offer silk robes to Lord Venkateswara Swamy for five years (as CM). I can understand it. It is not my first time (Tirumala visit)," he said.

He reiterated that the ghee which was rejected by the TTD on account of quality issues was never used in making the laddu prasadam (consecrated food, sweet in this case).

Naidu had last week alleged the use of substandard ghee and presence of animal fat in the famous Tirupati laddus during the previous YSRCP regime.