The on-going controversy over animal fat in ghee used to make laddoos offered as ‘prasadam’ at Tirupati temple, has attracted the attention of the central government with Union Health Minister JP Nadda asking Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for a “detailed report” on the matter.
A few days ago, Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party cited a report from a lab in Gujarat that said samples of the ghee used when his rival, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, was in power contained traces of beef tallow, fish oil, and pig fat, or lard.
https://tfipost.com/2024/09/animal-fat-in-tirupati-laddoos-could-upset-lakhs-of-people/
Naidu criticized the YSRCP, accusing Reddy of desecrating the temple and ‘sanatan dharm’.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in alliance with the TDP and Jana Sena at the Centre, has been even more vociferous in its criticism, with Union Minister Sanjay Bandi terming it an “unforgivable sin”.
Meanwhile, the YSR Congress has hit back against the allegations with Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy, who was chairperson of the TTD for four years, said it is “unimaginable to even say ‘animal fat was used in consecrated food offered daily to the deity and in laddoos given to devotees”.
He said it was a ‘heinous’ claim on the part of the chief minister.