Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the row involving alleged adulteration of laddu prasadam at Tirumala Tirupati. In the letter, the YSRCP chief alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has made attempts to "irreparably tarnish the sanctity, integrity and reputation of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams."  


He accused Naidu of raking up the issue to divert people's attention from the "failure" of his government. 


Reddy refuted the allegation of ghee used for the preparation of prasadams being adulterated with animal fats as a "blatant lie" for "political motives". He said that the tanker that contained the "adulterated" ghee arrived at Tirupati on July 12 but was rejected. 


"The robust practices in place for decades in TTD could identify the questionable quality and therefore the ghee was not," he said.






"Mr Naidu chose to callously make a remark that Tirumala Laddus were made with animal fats and not with ghee. Mr Naidu knew that this was absolutely untrue but recklessly made this comment regardless of the deep pain that such comment can cause to crores of Hindu devotees who regard the Tirumala Laddu as the most sacred prasadam," said the former CM. 


Ruling out the possibility of using adulterated ghee for the preparation of prasadam, Reddy said that three separate samples are taken from the tankers and are allowed to pass only if the samples pass the test.


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"Therefore, the question of sub-standard material being used in the preparation of prasadams does not arise," he said. He also highlighted that the process has been in place for several decades even during the period of TDP government from 2014 to 2019.


Concluding the letter, Reddy slammed Naidu as a "pathological and habitual liar" saying he "stooped so low as to seriously hurt the beliefs of crores of people for political objectives." 


"The entire Country looks to you at this crucial juncture. It is very imperative that Mr. Naidu be reprimanded in severest way for his shameless act of spreading lies and the truth be brought to light," he stated in the letter.