As expected, former chief priest of Lord Venkateshwara temple of Tirumala Dr A V Ramana Deekshitulu is back in his post, thanks to his intense lobbying with the powers-that-be.
On Saturday, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board, at its meeting chaired by Y V Subba Reddy, appointed Ramana Deekshitulu as the “Pradhana Archaka” in the Srivari temple, of course on honorary basis.
This would mean, he would be taking part in the daily rituals of the temple as he was doing in the past, along with other head priests.
However, he would not have the powers of the regular head priest and he would only be treated as honorary head priest.
A couple of months ago, the Jagan government issued an order restoring the hereditary priesthood in temples and removal of upper age limit for priests for retirement, the order was not made applicable to the TTD which has its own set of rules.
A disappointed Deekshitulu made an appeal to Jagan to implement the orders for TTD as well. But the state government did not issue any such orders. It has now rehabilitated Deekshitulu in an honourary post that would satisfy him.
Last month, Deekshitulu was appointed as “agama advisor” of the TTD. He will continue to be the advisor for his life time.
Ramana Deekshitulu was forced to retire by the previous Telugu Desam Party government on attainment of superannuation, along with three others, in 2018 after he made sensational allegations against the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on missing jewellery. Subsequently, he made serious charges against the TDP.
After Jagan came to power in May this year, Ramana Deekshitulu met him and requested him to restore his post in the Tirumala temple.
The chief minister then assured that he would revoke the order on implementing rule of superannuation in temples, as priesthood is a hereditary post.
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