The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, held a 'shanti homam' at the reverred Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple to "purify" the shrine amid claims of beef tallow and lard being used to make the laddus offered to the diety and then given as 'prasadam' to the devotees.
Executive officer of Tirumala Tirupathi Devastanam (TTD) Shamala Rao and other officials of the Board participated in the ritual along with the priests. The ritual started at 6 am and concluded at 10 am. Officials and priests took part in the ritual, aimed to "nullify negative effects and restore faith among devotees".
The ruling Telugu Desham Party said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an IG ranked officer will be formed to investigate the alleged use of adulterated ghee in laddus served as 'prasadam' at the Tirumala temple.
It added that a Special Committee will be formed with distinguished priests to create a Standard Operations Procedure to efficiently manage temples across the State as per Vedic, Dharmic and Agama Shastras.
The controvercy began after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu claimed that a key ingredient used to prepare the laddus given as 'prasadam' in the revered Sri Venkateswara temple contains animal fats and fish oil. He alleged that animal fat was used instead of ghee to make the 'prasadam' when his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy was the Chief Minister.
Naidu's party TDP, as part of a proof to support his claims, presented a report by a laboratory identified as NDDB CALF (Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock & Food) and alleged the use of beef tallow, lard, fish oil and palm oil in the laddus.