A tense situation prevailed in the temple town of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday following challenges and counter-challenges between the YSR Congress party and ruling Telugu Desam Party-led coalition in Andhra Pradesh over the alleged death of cows in the Sri Venkateshwara Goshala (cow-shed) being run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
YSRCP leaders led by former Tirupati MLA and ex-chairman of TTD trust board Karunakar Reddy Bhumana have alleged for the last week that more than 100 cows died due to the neglect of the TTD administration in the last one month.
Bhumana posted a few pictures of cow carcasses in the TTD cowshed on social media, but TTD chairman B R Naidu strongly refuted the allegations. “It is a completely false allegation and is nothing but a conspiracy to damage the reputation of TTD,” Naidu told reporters after inspecting the Goshala on April 13. “There is no negligence in the management of cattle in TTD Goshala, where cows are treated like mothers and are provided with feed and necessary medical services from time to time,” he said.
On Thursday, the TDP, Jana Sena Party and the BJP leaders challenged Bhumana to come to Goshala to see the factual position and prove his allegations.
Accepting the challenge, Bhumana along with hundreds of his followers began a rally to the Goshala, but the police prevented him, saying he cannot lead such a huge delegation to the Goshala, as it might lead to clashes. The police were deployed around his home in Padmavathi Puram due to escalating tensions. Other YSRCP leaders like Tirupati MP M Gurumurthy and ex-deputy chief minister K Narayana Swamy were also stopped.
“If Bhumana wants, he can go there along with his gunmen and personal assistant,” Tirupati superintendent of police V Harshavardhan Raju said.
But Bhumana insisted that he would go there along with his party workers. With the police denying permission, he staged a dramatic protest by lying down on the road, claiming police detained him at home.
Meanwhile, the TDP leaders were also prevented from going there in large numbers and they stayed back. Later, TDP MLAs Bojjala Sudheer Reddy and Pulivarthi Nani, Jana Sena Party MLA Arani Srinivasulu and BJP leader and TTD member Bhanuprakash Reddy went to the Goshala to inspect the situation.
Speaking to reporters later, Sudheer Reddy accused the YSRCP of deeply offending Hindu sentiments over the Tirupati Goshala controversy. “This is nothing but a desperate attempt to deflect from the backlash over their baseless accusations on the Tirupati cowshed,” he said.
Stating that cows are sacred to the Hindus like a mother, Sudheer Reddy challenged Tirupati leader Bhumana Karunakar Reddy to visit the cowshed in Tirupati and issue an unconditional apology.
Meanwhile, Bhumana said that the TDP-led coalition could not accept his challenge due to fear and did not allow him and other YSRCP leaders to Goshala. He said he stands by his version on the large-scale deaths of cows.
“Since morning, large number of police swarmed our house and did not allow us to go to the Goshala to prove our version. We said five members of our party would visit the Goshala to present the factual position, but we were not allowed,” he said.