The Kiran Kumar Reddy government appears to be in no mood to appoint a new chairman and members of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board, despite pressure from several aspirants within the ruling party.
The term of the present TTD's specified authority will end on Wednesday, and a GO is likely to be issued to further extend the term of the same body.
However, the TTD's rules do not allow the continuance of any authority beyond one year.
Former Chief Minister K Rosaiah appointed IAS officers J Satyanarayana as the specified authority and I Y R Krishna Rao and Nagireddy as its members, after the term of TTD board chairman Adikeshavulu Naidu ended last year.
Sources say that the Chief Minister is unable to decide on the candidature of new TTD members. While there are several aspirants in the Congress, leaders of the Praja Rajyam Party are seeking appointment to the plum posts after their merger.
There is a huge race amongst these politicians for these posts, and hence, under the present political circumstances, the CM wants to delay the appointment of the new board.
Meanwhile, apprehensions have been raised that the TTD administration will take a back-seat if the same Specified Authority (SA) is allowed to continue.
There were allegations that the SA had ignored the 'agama sastras' and had not meticulously followed the worship timings of the Lord, which created a rift between the Thengalai sect belonging to the south and the Vadagalai sect from the northern states. (INN)