Andhra Pradesh

Tirumala Trust Board adds ten more chairs, to have 29 members

With pressure on YS Jaganmohan Reddy to accommodate requests from several quarters for a seat on the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Board, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister has decided to increase the number of seats on the Trust Board. The Governor has issued an ordinance increasing the number from 19 to 29.

The ordinance called the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, shall come into force with immediate effect.

The custom has been to accommodate well-known people, requests from politicians from neighbouring states of Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on the board. It is learnt that three members including an industrialist close to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and a film producer are likely to be the nominees from Telangana. The two names from Tamil Nadu may include former BCCI chief and India Cements head N Srinivasan.

There will be two nominees from Karnataka and up to seven from the central quota and that may accommodate names recommended by the BJP leadership. Having a significant pro-BJP presence at TTD, Jagan would hope, would also blunt the frequent attacks mounted against his government by the right-wing accusing it of propagating Christian interests in the temple town. 

Jagan also has to accommodate YSRCP MLAs and MPs who cannot be made chairpersons of corporations. Since a seat on the Trust that manages the world’s richest temple is considered very prestigious, Jagan hopes to keep more people happy with this increased number of Board members. 
Since June when Jagan’s uncle YV Subba Reddy was appointed as TTD chairman, he has been functioning without a Board. Several decisions including the time to be given for VIP darshan are hanging fire. 

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