Jagan Mohan Reddy has dismissed the allegations hurled against him in the Tirupati Laddu dispute case and said that politics was being done in the name of God. The company supplying ghee has also rejected the charge of mixing the fat of prohibited meat in the Tirupati temple’s laddus.
AR Dairy Food Private Limited, which supplies laddus to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has denied the allegations of adulteration. Meanwhile, amid a furor over allegations of prohibited meat being found in laddus, the Union Health Ministry has sought a detailed report from the state government.
The controversy came to the fore after the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday, alleged that the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government had used fats of prohibited meat instead of ghee to prepare laddu prasadam in Tirumala.
This has reportedly been confirmed in the report of a private lab. Laboratory of the National Dairy Development Board’s Centre for Livestock and Food Analysis and Studies or CALF in Gujarat had cited the report on July 17, but not revealed in public platform. However this report was released recently. It is said that the banned meat was found in the ghee that was used to make the famous Tirupati laddu when YSRCP was in power.
Meanwhile, amid the furor over the issue, AR Dairy Food Pvt Ltd in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul reiterate that their company is one of the many companies supplying ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
According to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the laboratory test report wasn’t agreed upon that the ghee sample in controversy was not from the source of AR diary. The report also indicated that there was a possibility of erroneous positive result. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) accepted the ghee tankers supplied by them this June and July only after the inspection reports were satisfactory. The supply of ghee was stopped supplies after July as Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) changed vendors. It has been asserted that there may be many reasons for the presence of traces of prohibited animal fat in ghee. That ghee sample cannot be from AR Dairy Food Pvt. Ltd, according to the reports National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
The incident comes after Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’s (TTD) executive officer J. Shyamala Rao claimed that four samples of ghee sent to NDDB were from AR Dairy Food which were carried in four tankers on July 6 and July 12 this year.
Jagan Reddy also rejects the allegations
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy dismissed the ruling Telugu Desam Party’s allegations, saying, that politics is being done in the name of God. He said that the tendering process happens in every six months, and the eligibility criteria have not changed for decades. He also included that; the suppliers must provide NABL certificate and product quality certificate. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) collects ghee samples and only products that qualify quality certificates are approved and recommended for use. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is politicizing religious matters. They rejected the products 18 times in their tenure of governance.
He also added that, they found out that the quality of the ghee was poor and immediately informed the previous chief minister Naidu. He said that the supplier of that time, AR Dairy, was responsible for providing substandard ghee.
Earlier this week, a major controversy erupted after N Chandrababu Naidu claimed that prohibited animal fat and other substandard ingredients were used to make Tirupati laddus during the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government.
Ruling Telugu Desam Party’s spokesperson Anam Venkata Ramana Reddy has told in front media that, the TTD under the YSR Congress Party government had awarded the contract to purchase ghee to the lowest bidder, worth Rs 320 per kg. Reddy claimed that when the market price of standard quality’s ghee is Rs 900 per kg, it is not possible to supply pure and unadulterated ghee at that rate. The YSR Congress Party government has compromised with the quality of ghee by offering such a low bid.
Last July, the TTD had decided not to renew its contract with Karnataka Milk Federation and instead chose other suppliers after issuing an e-tender. KMF president Bhima Naik had then uttered that, they were selling ghee at Rs 400 per kg, and they would compromise on quality if a company bid at a very low price. After the TDP-led NDA came to power in June this year, the contracts were cancelled and the TTD renewed ties with the Karnataka Milk Federation for the supply of Nandini brand ghee.
Authored by – Bhitali Das
