It was only a few hours ago that Telugu Desam Party MLA from Payakaraopet MLA Vangalapudi Anitha was appointed as the member of prestigious Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams trust board.
It was a big reward for Anitha, who had effectively taken on firebrand YSR Congress party MLA R K Roja in the assembly and got her suspended for over a year.
Naturally, she was on cloud nine for getting the recognition from chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
But even before she got the official order, Anitha’s jubilation has evaporated. On Saturday, a video clipping of Anitha’s interview to a Telugu television channel surfaced in which she clearly claimed herself to be a Christian.
“I speak so much about religion. I am a Christian and so are my children. You can always find Holy Bible in my car, my house, my children’s bags and everywhere,” she said in the interview.
Within no time, the video clipping was brought to the notice of Naidu. He immediately asked his officials to verify Anitha’s credentials and if she is really a Christian, he wanted her to be removed from the list to avoid any further controversies.
Already, Naidu had to delay the appointment of the TTD trust board chairman because of the controversy over Christian leanings of Putta Sudhakar Yadav.
It was only after the TDP broke the alliance with the BJP, Naidu took the decision to appoint him as the chairman of TTD, notwithstanding the protests from the VHP and other Hindu organisations. Yadav claimed that he was a chaste Hindu and had no Christian connections at all.
