Tirupati: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday revamped the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board. Media entrepreneur and philanthropist Bollineni Rajagopal Naidu has been named the board chairman.
A government order said the 24-member board, including BR Naidu, would oversee the governance of the esteemed shrine. The other members include representatives from political, judicial and business sectors.
Among the new members are three Telugu Desam MLAs—Jyothula Nehru (Jaggampeta), Vemireddy Prasanthi Reddy (Kovur) and MS Raju (Madakasira). Prasanthi Reddy previously served on the TTD board as a YSR Congress nominee. He later joined the TD.
Former Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi and Bharat Biotech co-founder Suchitra Ella are among the prominent names in the new TTD board.
Panabaka contested and lost the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-election while Suchitra, a former TTD board member, now chairs the southern region chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and oversees the CSR initiatives at Bharat Biotech.
Other appointees include art director B Anand Sai, closely associated with deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan.
The board features members from several states, reflecting the nation’s geographical diversity: P Ramamurthy and Krishna Murthy V are from Tamil Nadu, RN Darshan and Naresh Kumar are from Karnataka, Saurabh H Bora is from Maharashtra, and Adit Desai is from Gujarat. Krishna Murthy and Saurabh Bora had been members of the TTD board during the YSRC term.
Justice HL Datt from Karnataka joins Nannuri Narsi Reddy from Telangana, TD leader Bungunuru Mahender Reddy and Jana Sena founder member Anugolu Rangasri in the new team.
Anand Sai, Mahender Reddy and Rangasri are believed to be nominees of Pawan Kalyan.
The other members are Janga Krishnamurthy, Jasti Poorna Sambasiva Rao, Sadasiva Rao Nannapaneni, Akkina Muni Koteshwar Rao, M Rajasekhar Goud, M Shantaram and Janaki Devi Thammisetty.
Notably, Tirupati district does not have a representative in the new board. Several local leaders, particularly from the TD, Jana Sena and BJP were hopeful of finding a space in the TTD board. BR Naidu, who hails from a farming family nearby Chittoor district, currently resides in Hyderabad.
BR Naidu has a notable career trajectory, starting with his tenure at BHEL, where he represented 12,000 employees as their union general secretary and he also served as culture secretary. His relationship with NT Rama Rao during the Prajaswamya Punaruddarana movement cemented his ties with the Telugu Desam. Over the years, BR Naidu has become a prominent figure within the TD.
In his new role, BR Naidu has pledged to uphold transparency, accountability and pilgrim welfare. He spoke of plans to enhance the temple infrastructure and streamline darshan access.
Several board members thanked the chief minister for their appointments and vowed to contribute their mite to the board’s mission to serve the devotees.
