Honourary chief priest of Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temple of Tirumala Dr A V Ramana Deekshitulu was on Monday sacked from his post for alleged controversial remarks on the temple policies.
A decision to this effect was taken by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams trust board headed by chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy after discussing with the other priests and officials concerned.
Ramana Deekshitulu allegedly posted a message on social media in which he reportedly made controversial remarks against the top brass of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in ‘saving’ the temple.
In a tweet last week, Deekshitulu said that the hill temple was in the clutches of ‘non-sanatani’ (who do not follow the Sanatana Dharma) officers and government as well, who he alleged were systematically destroying the ancient traditions, structures and assets of TTD temples.
In the same tweet, he also urged Modi to “save the temple and establish a Hindu rashtra”.
Condemning his remarks, social media users reminded him of a police complaint lodged against him by his own son and questioned him about the ‘pink diamond’ - a jewel which he had alleged a few years ago was stolen from the presiding deity’s necklace.
They also trolled him for making a vain bid to gain re-entry into the temple while others criticised him for making huge money by way of frequent visits to the houses of prominent industrialists in chartered flights.
Perturbed by the spate of criticism, Deekshitulu later deleted his tweet.