Hyderabad: Even as the Supreme Court Friday ordered an independent probe by a new special investigation team (SIT) into the Tirupati laddu ghee adulteration case, the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led alliance and the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh are warring over the facts of the case, both espousing the same slogan—Satyameva Jayate—to defend their submissions to the public.
After the apex court ordered the probe by an SIT supervised by the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) —in place of the team formed by the Andhra Pradesh government—former chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy demanded that the incumbent, Chandrababu Naidu, “apologise to the people and devotees for his blatant lies”.
“If Chandrababu has any fear or devotion to God, he should at once regret his remarks publicly and repent. But (even after the SC’s order and remarks) he and the TDP are peddling the same lies, twisting the court’s strictures to put blame on us, deceiving the people,” Jagan told reporters at his Tadepalli office.
“From the SC judgment today and comments made by SC judges Monday, it is evident that the court categorically chastised Naidu for speaking such lies. In fact, the Supreme Court has made it very clear not to bring God into politics, clearly reprimanding Chandrababu for whatever he has said,” Jagan said.
“Even after being caught for his misdeeds involving Tirumala Venkateswara Swamy, Chandrababu Naidu has not learned his lesson and continues to spread misinformation. False statements are being shared from the official Twitter handle @JaiTDP, claiming that the Supreme Court is… pic.twitter.com/bHOIrojmCo
— YSR Congress Party (@YSRCParty) October 4, 2024
Th YSRCP and party activists are now using the hashtag #SatyamevaJayate and #CBNShouldApologiseHindus on social media targeting Naidu. #YSJaganExposedTDP, #SaveTTDFromTDPFakeNews and #100DaysOfCBNSadistRule are the other tags being used by the YSRCP.
Naidu, too, took to X, welcoming the Supreme Court’s order to set up an SIT comprising officers from the CBI, the Andhra Pradesh Police and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India “to investigate the issue of adulteration of Tirupati laddu”.
“Satyamev Jayate. Om Namo Venkatesaya,” wrote the CM, as some TDP supporters also used the hashtag in their posts defending their supremo and blaming Jagan for the laddu controversy.
I welcome the Honourable Supreme Court’s order of setting up SIT, comprising officers from CBI, AP Police and FSSAI to investigate the issue of adulteration of Tirupati laddu.
Satyamev Jayate.
Om Namo Venkatesaya.
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) October 4, 2024
Later in the evening, Naidu was in Tirumala to attend the inaugural ceremony of the ten-day annual celestial fest (Brahmotsavams) at the temple, attended by lakhs of devotees each day. Naidu—who has been faulting Jagan for entering the temple as CM in previous years without submitting a declaration for non-Hindus and without his wife— was accompanied by his wife Bhuvaneswari. They presented silk robes to the deity on behalf of the government.
The allegations made by Naidu last month—that ghee laced with animal fat had been used in the preparation of Tirupati laddus during the YSRCP’s tenure—sparked a massive row nationwide and stirred up public sentiments in AP, where the famed Lord Venkateshwara temple is located.
While the YSRCP vehemently denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated, Naidu’s charges nevertheless cornered the YSRCP chief. Naidu’s ally, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan, doubled down on the attacks against Jagan, accusing him of grievously injuring the religious sentiments of Hindus.
Although the adulterated ghee in question was supplied in July, a month after the TDP-led alliance came to power, the dairy accused of supplying it—the Tamil Nadu based AR Dairy—was selected by the temple trust board (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams or TTD) in May, when the YSRCP was still in power.
As senior leaders and others including former Union minister Subramanian Swamy and YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP Y.V. Subba Reddy—a former TTD chairman—approached the Supreme Court seeking a deeper probe led by a retired SC judge or retired high court chief justice, Jagan has been holding press conferences and posting documents on social media supporting his version, with the slogan Satyameva Jayate.
What is the meaning of this ?
Is this evidence not enough @ncbn ?
“Satyameva Jayate” @BJP4India @INCIndia @arivalayam @BRSparty @samajwadiparty @AamAadmiParty @AIADMKOfficial @narendramodi @AmitShah @ShivSenaUBT_ @AITCofficial @VCKofficials @bspindia @JanataDal_S @NCPspeaks… pic.twitter.com/RT8QgHbKRk
— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) September 29, 2024
Jagan had even written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that Naidu be “reprimanded in the severest way” for spreading “lies” over the Tirupati laddu.
Also Read: SC raps Chandrababu over ‘animal fat in Tirupati laddu’ claim, asks why go public without proof
SC’s order & new SIT
In his writ petition in the SC filed on 23 September, Swamy cited and annexed ThePrint report that broke the news, quoting TTD executive officer Syamala Rao, that the ghee found to be contaminated with animal fat by the National Dairy Development Board’s Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (NDDB CALF) was never used to make laddus.
Swamy has called the CM’s allegations unsubstantiated.
Today I filed a PIL seeking Supreme Court direction to investigate unsubstantiated allegation by CM C.B. Naidu that the Tirupati Tirumala Temple Prasadam were adulterated with meat of animals and other rotten items creating chaos almost bhaktas
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) September 23, 2024
After hearing the petition, the SC bench of justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan in its order Monday observed thus: “The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh had gone in public making a statement on 18.09.2024 that ghee containing animal fat was being used to make prasadam laddus at Tirupati Tirumala under previous regime.”
“However, some press reports also show that the executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Trust (for short ‘TTD’) had made a statement to the contrary that adulterated ghee was never used.”
Saying so, the court observed that “prima facie, it was not appropriate on the part of a high constitutional functionary to go in public to make a statement which can affect the sentiment of crores of people and when investigation to find out [whether] adulterated ghee was used to make laddus was underway.”
An FIR over the ghee adulteration was registered based on a complaint by the TTD’s general manager (procurement) at Tirupati police station on 25 September, a week after Naidu’s shocking claims.
The state government issued orders appointing an SIT the very next day (26 September) to probe the matter. The nine-member team, consisting of three IPS officers, was headed by IG-level officer Sarvashresth Tripathi. The YSRCP expressed its “no-trust in the Naidu selected SIT”.
The team set to work, inspecting various locations at Tirumala for two days, trying to understand procurement and sampling processes, and how laddu ghee adulteration could have happened.
However, DGP Tirumala Rao told reporters Tuesday that the SIT had temporarily stalled its probe as the matter is sub judice before the Supreme Court.
Following the SC’s order Friday, the AP-formed SIT will be substituted with two officers from the CBI, to be nominated by the CBI director, two officers from the Andhra Pradesh Police, to be nominated by the state government, and one senior officer from the FSSAI, to be nominated by the FSSAI chairperson,.
The SIT is to work under the supervision of the CBI director.
The court, while disposing off the petitions, said, “We are passing order regarding entrustment of the matter to an independent agency consisting of the aforesaid members only to assuage the feelings of crores of people/devotees having faith in the deity.”
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
Also Read: In Tirupati laddu row, Naidu’s bid to project Jagan as ‘anti-Hindu’, co-opt BJP’s Hindutva plank