Senior Indian defence estates service (IDES) officer AV Dharma Reddy, executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) that administers the Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temple on Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, went on a week-long leave, ahead of the visit of chief minister-elect N Chandrababu Naidu to the temple on Wednesday.
State chief secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad issued an order on Monday evening granting casual leave to Dharma Reddy for seven days – from June 11 to June 17 on personal reasons. However, the chief secretary directed that he should be available within the state.
Dharma Reddy, being a close aide of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and outgoing chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, was not keen on facing Naidu, a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader said on condition of anonymity.
“In fact, soon after the announcement of election results on June 4, Dharma Reddy wrote to the state government to relieve him from the post of TTD executive officer, but the chief secretary did not relieve him, pending instructions from the new government,” he said.
The NDA allies - the TDP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) - have been alleging for a long time that Dharma Reddy had indulged in several irregularities during his tenure in the TTD.
{{/usCountry}}The NDA allies - the TDP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) - have been alleging for a long time that Dharma Reddy had indulged in several irregularities during his tenure in the TTD.
{{/usCountry}}On June 6, JSP leader Kiran Rayal, along with other party leaders, lodged a complaint with the crime investigation department (CID) of the state police against Dharma Reddy and asked the police to seize his passport to prevent him from “fleeing” abroad.
Naidu, who will be sworn-in as the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday morning, visited Tirumala in the evening for an overnight stay and a darshan in the early hours of Thursday.
As per the temple protocol, the TTD executive officer is expected to receive the chief minister and accompany him into the temple to arrange darshan and divine blessings by the priests with full temple honours.
However, Dharma Reddy chose to go on leave on personal reasons and the state government gave full additional charge to joint executive officer J Veerabrahmaiah to extend the protocol facilities to Naidu during the latter’s maiden visit to the temple after taking over as the chief minister.
Dharma Reddy, a 1991-batch Indian defence estates service (IDES) officer, has been on deputation to the TTD since 2019. He had been on deputation to the TTD from 2005 to 2009 during the YS Rajasekhar Reddy regime. In the current term, his deputation was supposed to end on May 14.
Following a letter from outgoing chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in March, the Central government on April 27 approved the extension of his deputation up to June 30, which is also his date of his retirement on attaining the age of superannuation.
However, the opposition parties, opposed the continuation of Dharma Reddy as the TTD executive officer, alleging that he had been favouring the ruling YSRCP. On April 1, BJP state president Daggubati Purandeshwari wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI), requesting that him be shifted from the TTD, as he has been influencing the voters in favour of the YSRCP.
“He is still entertaining the recommendations of the YSRCP leaders for special darshan of the deity. If he continues in the post, he would favour the ruling party,” she said.
Dharma Reddy could not be reached for his reaction.