Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chief YV Subba Reddy on Monday broke his silence over the controversy surrounding the auction of 23 properties owned by the temple trust in Tamil Nadu.

While alleging that the claims are part of an unscrupulous campaign against him, YV Subba Reddy said the sale of TTD’s lands was made through a “resolution passed in 2016 and the issue has come up for discussion recently which was shared with everyone”.

Controversy erupted when reports began to pour in about the TTD’s decision to auction 23 of its properties spread across Tamil Nadu. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is one of India’s richest temples, with devotees donating properties worth Rs 1.54 crore to Lord Venkateswara, including agricultural land, fully-constructed homes and 16 residential sites.

“If someone wants to sell TTD assets, why only Rs 1.53 crore, that too the little known ones in Tamil Nadu?” asked board chairman YV Subba Reddy.

He trained his guns on the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh and said, “Earlier, there was propaganda that I was a Christian and when that did not click, they started this new propaganda.”

TTD has clarified that resolution number-253 of the board dated January 30, 2016, says, “50 unused land holdings identified by the TTD Board Sub-committee, should be put for open auction”.

“The resolution was adopted under the chairmanship of Chadalavada Krishna Murthy. The sub-committee has reported that barring the assets in other states, the other landholdings which are closer to Tirupati are not viable for maintenance by the board and it is not financially viable to retain them,” the TTD Board said.

In a statement, the board added, “The report further said that these assets should be sold and the proceeds should be added to the Corpus Fund. It was also told that other than the (property) number 18,28,44 the rest should be considered and a decision can be taken for selling or otherwise and a decision can be taken on the issue. Chadalavada Krishna Murthy has signed the Resolution.”

TTD Chiraman YV Subba Reddy said the issue of the auction came up during the Board Meeting on February 20, 2020 but no final decision has been made as of yet and reports of the auction of temple property are baseless.

Earlier, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha, who is also part of the TTD Board, had written a letter to YV Subba Reddy raising his objections over the auction of land owned by the temple.