Vijayawada: State BJP leaders and activists staged a protest in front of district collectorates on Thursday against the increase in room tariff at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
Addressing the protesters in Rajamahendravaram, BJP chief Somu Veerraju slammed the government for raising the room tariff for the guest rooms of all important temples in the state and demanded cancellation of the hike. He warned of a yatra from Ramatheertham to Kapila Theertham if the state government failed to withdraw the hike and said the BJP would not tolerate any interference of the state government in the functioning of temples.
The BJP chief said the government failed to punish those who desecrated the temples at Antarvedi and Ramatheertham.
In Kakinada district, BJP activists led by state party general secretary Vetukuri Suryanarayana and district general secretary Rambala Venkateswara Rao took out a march from Dharna Chowk to the collectorate and submitted a representation to collector Kruthika Shukla.
Suryanarayana said that, when the room tariff for ordinary TTD rooms was enhanced from ₹100 to ₹1,000 and the tariff of ₹500 for luxury rooms was enhanced to ₹1,700 and the tariff of ₹1,000 increased to ₹2,200. “Hindus would teach a lesson to the Jagan-led government for its plan for diversion of temple funds for the propaganda of other religions,” he said.
In Visakhapatnam, BJP activists led by Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao staged a protest against the hike in the rentals of TTD cottages and submitted a memorandum to the joint collector KS Viswanathan.
State BJP Yuva Morcha leader Surendra Mohan said Chandrababu Naidu paid a heavy price for ordering demolition of the thousand pillar mandapam in Tirumala. Former MLA P VishnunKumar Raju said the TTD was doing business with the devotees.
