Pawan Kalyan offers prayers at Tirumala, ends 'Prayaschit Deeksha'

Tirupati, Oct 2 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan offered prayers at Tirumala temple on Wednesday to end 11-day 'Prayaschit Deeksha' (atonement) for alleged use of animal fat in Tirupati laddu.

Accompanied by her daughters Adaya and Polena Anjani, he had darshan at Sri Venkateswara temple, also known as Balaji temple.

Pawan Kalyan, who walked up to Tirumala hill, carried the 'Varahi declaration' with him. He is scheduled to unveil the declaration at a public meeting in Tirupati on Thursday.

After the darshan, the actor-politician visited the Anna Prasadam complex and had meals served free of cost to the devotees. He spoke to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) officials about the preparation of meals.

Clad in saffron clothes, the Jana Sena leader had started his journey on foot from Alipiri on Tuesday evening.

Pawan Kalyan launched 'Prayaschit Deeksha' on September 22 with a puja at Sri Dasavatara Venkateswara Swamy temple in Nambur, Guntur district.

The leader said that he would seek the blessings of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy in Tirumala to pray to God to give him the strength to cleanse the sins committed by the previous government.

The Deputy Chief Minister said he was personally pained over the use of ghee adulterated with fish oil and animal for Laddu 'Prasdam' and therefore undertook 'Prayaschit Deekhsha'.

Before launching the 'Deeksha', the Jana Sena leader stated that the sacred Tirumala Laddu 'Prasadam', revered by millions, had been defiled due to the depraved actions of the previous ruler.

"It has been tainted with annual fat, a grievous sin that only those with wicked minds could commit. The failure to detect this sin earlier is a stain on the Hindu race," he had said in a statement.

On September 18, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu claimed that ghee adulterated with animal fat was used for making laddus during the YSRCP rule. He had also announced a probe by Special Investigation (SIT) headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police.

However, on Tuesday, Director General of Police Dwaraka Tirumala Rao announced that SIT has temporarily stopped the probe after the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had orally asked SIT to "hold its hands" till October 3, the next day of the hearing.

The Supreme Court questioned whether CM Naidu has any material to conclude that animal fat was used for Tirupati laddus during the previous YSRCP regime in Andhra Pradesh.

The apex court said CM Naidu should have "kept the gods away from politics" before rushing in to make public statements based on unsure facts that lard was used to prepare the laddus in the previous regime.