Tirupati, March 06: Taking exception to some observations believed to have been made by TTD chief priest AV Ramana Deekshitulu, TTD Employees Association Joint Action Committee leaders have demanded that the TTD take action against the priest for making such comments against the management.
Addressing a press conference here yesterday, JAC leaders Venkataramana Reddy, Lakshminarayana Yadav, Ramachandra and others accused the priest of making controversial statements.
“Ramana Deekshitulu is still behaving like a mirasi (hereditary priest) even after the abolition of the system long back. Moreover, he had managed to appoint his three sons in the TTD under that system,’’ they said.
Criticising Deekshitulu for taking recourse to Agama shastras to buttress his argument, they wanted to know if it was in accordance with the Agama that the chief priest went to the guest houses to personally distribute prasadam and bless visiting political leaders and industrialists.
Defending TTD Agama adviser Sundaravadana Bhattacharya, who has been working with the TTD since 2000, they wanted Deekshitulu to reveal why he was questioning Bhattacharya’s knowledge of Agama shastras after keeping mum for over a decade.
They also criticised Deekshitulu for issuing statements to the media as a political leader, violating the norms of conduct for employees and threatened to launch an agitation unless Deekshitulu stopped his tirade against the management which only sullied the image of the TTD in the eyes of the public.
–Agencies