Venkateshwara devotee, Naidu’s man & non-Telugu IAS—Anil Singhal, the two-time Tirupati administrator

In 2017, Punjab-domiciled officer became the first ‘north Indian’ to be appointed TTD administrative head. His reappointment to the post now has raised eyebrows in Andhra Pradesh.

IAS officer Anil Kumar Singhal offers prayers at TTD head office in Tirupati on Thursday. | By special arrangement

Hyderabad: IAS officer Anil Kumar Singhal’s reappointment this week as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer has raised eyebrows in Andhra Pradesh’s political and bureaucratic circles as he becomes the only officer to serve twice as the administrative head of the highest revenue-earning Hindu temple in the world.

The 1993-batch officer already holds two records in connection with the famed Tirupati temple management. In May 2017, the Punjab-domiciled officer became the first “north Indian” officer to assume the TTD EO chair.

His selection by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was met with murmurs of protest from Telugu IAS officers, who perceive the coveted post as a preserve of the natives, mostly Brahmins.

Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan, who took up the cudgels against the Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party (TDP-BJP) by then, went public with his criticism of Naidu’s decision. In an ‘X’ post, he asked if “south Indians will be allowed to take up the administrative positions of such sacred shrines of northern India like Amarnath, Varanasi and Mathura, etc.”

In addition to him being in the good books of Naidu, Singhal’s appointment in 2017 was widely seen as made under the influence of BJP leaders in New Delhi.

Even as the TDP’s relations with BJP soured a year later, and Naidu exited the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in March 2018 in a huff, Singhal was retained in the EO seat. Though the standard tenure is of two years, Singhal continued to serve at the revered hill shrine till October 2020, well over a year into Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure too.

Thus, Singhal, who calls himself a parama bhakta (ardent devotee) of Lord Venkateshwara and is always seen with a tonsured head as mark of his devotion towards the almighty, served a record three years and five months at TTD. His tenure is the longest since P.V.R.K. Prasad’s from November 1978 to July 1982, according to TTD records accessed by ThePrint.

Before his re-appointment Monday, Singhal was posted as additional secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. He was in Delhi earlier too as special commissioner and resident commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Bhavan. Returning to Amaravati, he was awaiting posting since 7 August.

In December 2022, when then EO Dharma Reddy went on a short leave, Jagan sent Singhal, then the principal secretary (endowments), to Tirupati for 10 days to make arrangements for the Vaikunta Ekadasi, a highly auspicious day that draws VIPs to common people alike to the shrine.

IAS officer Anil Kumar Singhal takes charge as TTD executive officer inside the shrine. On his right is outgoing EO Syamala Rao | By Special Arrangement

Singhal set a record Wednesday as he again assumed charge, taking over from outgoing EO J.Syamala Rao, at an event inside the shrine, as has been the tradition.

“It is a dream for every IAS to serve the Venkateshwara devotees as TTD EO. It is my great fortune that I assumed the charge for the second time. I thank the CM garu for giving me this opportunity,” Singhal told reporters.

Much sought-after posting

Most Telugu IAS officers wish to serve as TTD EO once in their careers and see the opportunity as being in the service of Lord Venkateswara, the most revered deity in the Telugu states. The position is also much sought after for the networking and connections it allows to be built as the who’s who in politics, government, business, entertainment and other sectors of the country are frequent pilgrims to Tirupati.

“While it was mostly Brahmins posted as EOs during the Congress regimes in united AP, during the TDP time it was either Backward Castes or Kammas,” a senior TTD functionary told ThePrint. “But they were all Telugus, with exception of one or two Tamil-Telugus in the seventies, till Singhal came in 2017.”

JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, now the deputy chief minister, has not reacted to Singhal’s reappointment.

A senior Jana Sena leader stated it as a non-issue and that any All-India Service officer can be posted anywhere as deemed fit by the authorities.

The response is similar to the IAS Association’s retort to Pawan Kalyan’s 2017 post on ‘X’.  “IAS stands for Indian Administrative Service & we work in all States without any North/South/East/West/NE bias,” the association had posted.

Meanwhile, Syamala Rao has been transferred and posted as Principal Secretary (Political), General Administration Department at Amaravati after a 15-month tenure at the TTD.

His term at the shrine was a turbulent one with episodes like Naidu’s allegations of laddu ghee adulteration, a stampede that claimed lives of six devotees in January, his confrontations with TTD chairman B.R Naidu over management of the temple affairs.

“Rao is a sincere officer, tried to do his best as EO, but several aspects beyond his control like the commotion over ghee adulteration and the unfortunate stampede, marred his tenure,” a BJP leader told ThePrint.

Interacting with TTD HoDs at Tirumala after taking charge, Singhal observed that though Tirupati Tirumala is the best managed shrine in the entire country, there is always a scope for further development and improvements.

The new EO stated his priority areas are to preserve the temple’s sanctity, provide amenities to common devotees using technology, and spread Sri Venkateswara Bhakti cult across the country by building Venkateswara temples in the capitals of other states.

(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)