Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy will be the new TTD chairman

Tirupati: Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy will be the new chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). The post is equivalent to a minister rank in the Andhra Pradesh government. The current chairman YV Subba Reddy will end his tenure on August 8.

An official GO from the AP government has been issued.

This will be Karunakar Reddy’s second time to lead the TTD board. He had earlier served as the TTD chairman when YS Rajasekhar Reddy was the chief minister, between 2006-2008. Karunakar Reddy is a close aide of the YSR family. In 2019, Karunakar Reddy was selected as an MLA of YSRCP in Tirupati Constituency, Chittoor.

Sources from the chief minister’s office had earlier discussed three names, the other two being MLC Janga Krishna Murthy and Chandragiri MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, for the post of TTD chairman. However, chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy chose Karunakar Reddy again.

It is said that Jagan has chosen Karunakar as he is the senior among the three and had initiated and organised crucial activities during his tenure as the TTD chief. He had also successfully conducted many marriages under the Kalyanmasthu scheme and introduced new schemes to the devotees. He was also the once who started SVBC channel to telecast the daily rituals and festivals of the temple.

YV Subba Reddy served as a member of parliament to the 16th Lok Sabha from Ongole (Lok Sabha constituency). He was appointed as the chairman of TTD in 2019.