Malicious propaganda against TTD is at the behest of Chandrababu Naidu, says Swamy

VIJAYAWADA: BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that he was very pained to see that blatant lies were being published against the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and held former chief minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu responsible for most of the malicious campaign. He differed with the allegations of some BJP leaders that Hindu temples were under attack in the YSRC regime.    

Swamy praised Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for coming forward to get TTD accounts audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.To a query on his opinion on why Naidu was involved in the false propaganda, Swamy claimed that the former Chief Minister was doing such things to stop Jagan. 

“Naidu is unable to explain as to why he suddenly ran and fell at Sonia’s feet. So now he can’t be trusted anymore for going from one extreme to another extreme, from Narendra Modi to Sonia Gandhi. We were all shocked as we didn’t know that he was going to do it. As Jagan won the local body elections, he may be thinking as to what is the way to stop Jagan, who also has a long way to go age-wise.”

Swamy, who spoke to reporters after meeting Jagan at the latter’s residence, said he filed a defamation suit against a vernacular daily in Tirupati City Civil Court to protect the honour of TTD. “I was very pained that what is not true is being published and I found Naidu behind it. Even some people, who were with the TDP previously and now with the BJP, are alleging as if the BJP has taken an official stand against the issues related to temples. Neither the BJP nor the RSS has said anything officially.”

The BJP leader said it was unprecedented in the country for a State to agree to get the temple accounts audited by the CAG. “During Naidu’s regime, as it had come out in court records in my writ petitions, the State did not submit any accounts, leave alone government accounting for it. The High Court was shocked to see it. They were about to pass an order. My prayer is the CAG should audit the accounts and that the temple administration be handed over to devotees. The CM said there was no contest on the issue of audit and said that his government was ready to make a joint application for the CAG audit. While it has been accepted de facto, the court order will be given soon,” he explained.The allegations such as other religion employees working in TTD, attacks on temples by Christians and others were defamatory in nature, he said.