Former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Denies Animal Fat Allegations in Tirupati Laddu Prasadam

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], September 20: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has responded to allegations made by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regarding the use of animal fat in the making of the Tirupati Laddu Prasadam. Reddy accused the TDP of politicizing religious matters.

Chandrababu Naidu, a prominent TDP leader, had claimed that the previous YSR Congress-led government used animal fat in the laddus at the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati. Reddy refuted these claims, stating, “The tender process occurs every six months, and the qualification criteria have not changed for decades. Suppliers must provide an NABL certificate and a product quality certificate. TTD collects samples from the ghee, and only products that pass certification are used. TDP is politicizing religious matters. We have rejected the products in our regime 18 times.”

Shamala Rao, the executive officer of Tirumala Tirupathi Devastanam (TTD), also addressed concerns about the quality of the Prasadam. She mentioned that under CM Naidu’s instructions, a lab test was ordered to ensure the sanctity of the temple’s offerings. “When I took over as executive officer TTD, the CM expressed concern on the ghee procured and the quality of the laddu which is considered to be very sacred and offered as ‘Prasadam’ to Lord Venkateswara Swamy. Any deviation in the quality will cause doing ‘apavithram’ (doing something which is not sacred). He wanted me to take steps to ensure that the sanctity of this temple is restored including getting pure cow milk ghee. We started working on that… We found that we don’t have any internal lab to test adulteration in the ghee. There is no system to check the quality of ghee in outside labs also… The rates quoted by tenderers are unviable, they are so low that anyone can say that pure cow ghee cannot cost so less… We warned all suppliers, that they will be blacklisted if the ghee supplied doesn’t pass the lab test… We collected all samples and sent it to the best lab, it is government-controlled, and the reports have come and are shocking,” she said.

On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh shared a video clip showing CM Chandrababu Naidu alleging that animal fat was used in the Tirupati Prasadam instead of ghee. Lokesh expressed his shock and criticized the YS Jagan administration for disrespecting the religious sentiments of devotees.

Former TDP Chairman and YSRCP leader YV Subbareddy denied the allegations, asserting that only organic ingredients, including ghee, have been used in the Prasadam for the past three years. “All the ingredients used for Swami’s offerings from the last three years are all organic ingredients, including ghee. This is a very vile allegation that our government and our party, which have done so many programs while protecting the sanctity of Swami, are doing so many programs to mislead the people,” he said.