YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Thursday declared that he would do away with the retirement age of priests in all the temples in the State, if his party is voted to power in the next elections.
Jagan, in his twitter posting, made serious allegations against the Telugu Desam Party government for trying to interfere into the traditional rituals of Tirumala temple by enforcing age limit for the temple priests.
“The priests are not government employees with regular pay scales and increments. They would continue in their posts as long as they are alive and pass on the baton to their descendants. It is meaningless to decide retirement age for the priests. Once we come to power with the blessings of the god and the support of the people, we shall do away with this retirement age,” he said.
Jagan castigated Naidu for trying to usurp powers of the temple priests.
“He and his party leaders had grabbed temple lands and properties in several places. The allegations made by the head priest clearly shows the power hungry attitude of Naidu,” the YSRC leader criticised.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Endowments Minister KE Krishna Murthy accused TTD chief priest Ramana Deekshitulu of commiting several mistakes during his tenure.
He also alleged that some persons were taken into the temple well after the midnight to perform some strange rituals.
He said Ramana Deekshitulu used to go to the guest houses to bless the VIPs and said that an inquiry would be conducted into their wrong doings.
He also advised Ramana Deekshitulu to make politics his career instead of the performing pujas.
