Laddu row: YCP asks CBN to ‘come clean’

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) State Coordinator Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Friday demanded that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu come clean on his allegations that Tirupati laddus were adulterated with animal fat during the party's rule.

He said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu should either own his remarks on adulteration of laddu with animal fat or give a categorical statement in the wake of the lab reports stating that no animal fat was found in the laddus.

Affirming that the lab reports categorically made it clear that there was no animal fat in the Tirupati laddu, he said Chandrababu Naidu’s remark on the issue, which evoked global outrage among devotees, should be taken seriously, and that he should be pulled up for his irresponsible statement.

Speaking to the media, Reddy said that Chandrababu, who is holding a high office, tried to politicise the issue by passing an irresponsible remark that there was adulteration in the Tirupati laddu, which created a major flutter.

The SIT report states that there is no animal fat in the laddu, which was based on reports from two national laboratories, and Chandrababu should be questioned for passing remarks that hurt the sentiments of devotees across the globe, he said.

“Nowhere in the report was it mentioned that the TTD Chairman or Board members were involved in the irregularities, which keeps our slate clean, and the allegations are subject to legal scrutiny,” he said.

The propaganda machinery and Chandrababu are still trying to maintain and again blame that all the adulteration was done only during 2019–24 instead of accepting the mistake. They are still trying to pick holes and level baseless allegations only to cover up his foolhardiness, he added

Chandrababu owes an explanation as the entire investigation was stirred after his remarks on the adulteration, which hurt the sentiments of the devotees, the YSRCP leader said.

“For procurement of ghee, there is a system in place and we tried to improve it by stepping up quality control and rejecting any product that did not fit the stipulated regulations. We brought modernity into the system and the coalition only pointing out the period of 2019–24 and cherry-picking transactions only shows its political intentions. The companies and contractors were in place much before, and names changed, but the supplies remained the same,” he said.