The appointment of prominent industrialist Sekhar Reddy as the special invitee in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams trust board in the capacity of Tirumala temple’s local advisory committee chairman in Chennai has raised many eyebrows.
For, Reddy had faced several allegations of indulging in illegal sand operations and other mining works during the Jayalalithaa regime. He was recommended to the TTD trust board by Jayalalithaa during the Telugu Desam Party regime headed by N Chandrababu Naidu.
Two years ago, he was allegedly caught red-handed by the Income Tax authorities while he was in possession of brand new Rs 2,000 currency notes and the CBI, ED also conducted investigations into the cases.
With the YSR Congress party leaders accusing the TDP chief of being hand in glove with Sekhar Reddy and that he had a share in Reddy’s booty, Naidu was forced to remove him from the TTD.
Now that Sekhar Reddy is back into the TTD with the nomination from the YSR Congress party government, the TDP leaders are taking objection.
However, sources said the Jagan Mohan Reddy government was forced to appoint Sekhar Reddy at the recommendation of the AIADMK government, rather than out of its own interest.
“In the past, the NDA government troubled him with cases because they wanted to trouble Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala. After she was sent to jail and AIADMK completely surrendered to the Centre, Sekhar Reddy got into the good books of the BJP bosses. So, he came out clean in all the cases and with the help of these bosses, he was back into the TTD as a special invitee,” sources said.