India: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Reddy offers prayers at Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has offered prayers at the Lord Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala amid opposition from political rivals over his religious faith.

Reddy, who is a Catholic, visited the temple and made the traditional offering of silk cloths as part of the ongoing Brahmotsavam festival.

This was the first time since Reddy came to power in 2019 that he made the offerings at the richest Hindu temple in the country.

The controversy began when a leader of main opposition Telugu Desam as well as the BJP demanded that the Chief Minister should declare his faith in the deity. The norms of the temple require a non Hindu to declare his faith in the deity before entering the temple.

TDP leader K S Jawahar questioned the propriety of the Chief Minister entering the temple and making the offering saying the CM and his ministers, MLAs and other leaders should not come to the temple if they do not have the faith.

Another TDP leader Putta Sudhakar Yadav said that the long established tradition of non Hindu declaring their faith before entering the temple should not be scrapped as it would spoil the over all atmosphere of sacredness of the shrine.

Another Hindu religious figure and BJP leader Swami Paripoorananda said that the tradition of non Hindus declaring their faith was not started by Hindus but by the British during their rule.

The controversy had intensified after a minister of Jagan cabinet Kodali Nani had directly targeted the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On BJP’s demand that the Jaganmohan Reddy should visit the temple with his wife Bharti, Nani said, “they should first ask the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Ayodhya with his wife. Will UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visit Ayodhya with his wife?”

But head of another major temple Chilkur Balaji near Hyderabad Prof M V Soundara Rajan extended support to Reddy recalling that his father YS Rajasekhar Reddy had also visited the temple and made the offering of silk cloths.