Shift non-Hindu staff from Tirumala: Sena

Himayatnagar: The general secretary of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana units of Shiv Sena party, A Sudarshan, has demanded that the AP government remove employees of religions from the famed Venkateshwara temple at Tirumala and working with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).

Speaking to media, Sudarshan said that there are about 5,000 employees working in TTD, of whom about 1,500 employees belong to other religions. He said that TTD has already identified 42 employees of other religions and issued notices but not even a single employee has been removed.

said that the AEO of TTD Hyderabad Dharma Prachara Parishad, Usha Nandini, does not belong to Hindu religion and she never attends 'Kalyanotsavam' celebrations conducted at the Venkateshwara Temple every Sunday.

He alleged that she had prohibited 'Govinda Nama Smarana' in the temple. Recalling AP government chief secretary LV Subramanyam's promise to remove employees of other religions from TTD, he lamented that no such action was taken so far.

He demanded sacking of TTD EO Ashok Singhal from the post as he had failed to take any action on the issue. Yuva Sena state president Gote Ganesh, Shekhar, Pradeep, Raju and others were present on the occasion.