Bharatiya Janata Party, which has not been finding any issue to target YSR Congress party government headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the recent past on religious issue, has at last found one.
On Saturday, the BJP found a notification issued by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) last month to auction around 23 of its properties located in various parts of Tamil Nadu which it had not been able to protect from encroachers.
The decision to auction different pieces of land and other properties donated by various devotees in Tamil Naidu was taken in the TTD trust board meeting in February itself and the notification was issued on April 30.
The total value of the lands fixed as upset price for auctioning was around Rs 2 crore.
The properties include houses, house sites, vacant lands and agriculture lands located at Vellore, Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu.
BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana raised a hue and cry over the auctioning of TTD properties to overcome financial crisis. He demanded that the TTD withdraw the proposal to sell the properties gifted to the Lord by devotees.
BJP MP T G Venkatesh also found fault with the TTD for auctioning the properties donated by the devotees.
“If somebody moves the court, the TTD will get into trouble. The Jagan government seems to have the habit of taking wrong decisions and later getting the rap from the courts,” he said.
However, the TTD has clarified that it was not the first time that the properties were put to auction. It was done in the past, too.
“When the TTD can’t use the properties and protect the same, it would be auctioned. Moreoever, it also incurs a lot of money to maintain those properties,” a board official said.