Tirupati: With Y.V. Subba being reconfirmed as chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board for a successive second term, many members of the board too are hoping for a similar bonanza.
Indications, however, are that only those members; who have “worked and contributed” to the cause of world-famous Lord Venkateswara Temple despite the testing Covid times will be nominated for the second time. The rest, including some of those belonging to neighbouring states, like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, will be dropped.
AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is evaluating performance of board members while in office. Having got to know about this, some aspirants have already started knocking on the doors of Chief Minister’s Office.
It may be recalled that nearly three months after appointing former MP Y.V. Subba Reddy as TTD chairman on June 22, 2019, YSRC government constituted a jumbo 37-member Trust Board in September that year. It included prominent names, such as former BCCI president and Indian Cements MD N. Srinivasan, Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy, My Home Group chairman J. Rameshwar Rao, and Tamil Nadu’s sand mining baron A.J. Sekhar.
Generally, the TTD board meets once a month. But Coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 had an adverse impact on overall functioning of the jumbo board. It started meeting only once in three months. As a result, majority of board members could hardly make their presence felt. Only a very few continued to play a key role in overall affairs of the TTD.
For example, former special invitee to TTD board, A.J. Sekhar took up construction of Go-Mandir at a cost of Rs. 13 crore at Alipiri. He also extended a donation of Rs. 1.1 crore for constructing a temple in Chennai’s T Nagar. Indian Cements MD Srinivasan donated Rs. 3 crore for building an additional boondi potu.
Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy gave Rs. 1 crore to TTD for adopting a sophisticated technology that converts garbage on Tirumala Hill into compost. K. Siva Kumar, nominated to the trust board from Telangana, conceptualised “Gudiko Gomatha” programme. He guided TTD in promoting worship of the sacred cow across India.
According to sources, members of the new board will be finalised by AP Chief Minister in about a week’s time. As such, many of the existing members are keeping their hands folded towards Lord Vekateswara for re-nomination.
