Allegations malicious

Vijayawada: Former AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy made a vain attempt to clarify that nothing wrong had happened during his regime and that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was raking up religious sentiments for political gains.

Stating that he would write a letter to the Chief Justice of India against Naidu for his “lack of respect for religious institutions”, the YSRCP chief said Naidu was making allegations with malicious intent and was engaging in diversionary politics as he had failed to deliver during his 100 days of governance. He said Naidu made many false promises during the election campaign, such as cash incentives for children, women and farmers and none of these promises have been fulfilled leaving people feeling betrayed and hence he stooped to raking up ghee adulteration allegations.

Jagan further said his government had taken more care in constituting the TTD than forming the state Cabinet. He suggested that Naidu concentrate on issues like providing relief to the flood victims in Vijayawada, stopping privatization of Vizag Steel Plant and privatization of medical colleges and take care of deteriorating law and order situation.

He said the procurement of ghee for Tirumala was done in a transparent manner. Tenders were invited every six months, and the lowest bidder was selected, and routine procedure was followed in quality control. The ghee suppliers are required to provide a quality certificate from a lab accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL).

Three samples from every ghee tanker are tested, and only if they pass all tests the ghee is accepted for use in the preparation of laddu, he said.

This is a decades-old procedure. During his five-year term 18 ghee consignments were rejected, Jagan said and questioned the timing of Naidu’s “allegations.”

Interestingly, while Jagan was holding a press conference at Tadepalli, TTD EO J Syamala Rao told the media that there were five suppliers of Ghee Premier Agri Foods, Kriparam Dairy, Vaishnavi, Sri Parag Milk and AR Dairy who supplied ghee for Rs 320 to Rs 411. He said prima facie these rates were not viable s for supplying pure ghee, he added.

In the meantime, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has conducted raids on the A R Dairy on Friday. On the other hand, the AP Endowments Department has decided to delve deep into the companies which supplied ghee and the details of the contracts.