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Hyderabad, Sept.27 (PMI): A Sudarshan, Shiv Sena party general secretary of the two Telugu States on Friday demanded that non-Hindu employees working in the sacred Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple at Tirumala be removed forthwith otherwise the Shiv Sena will be constrained to launch agitation. As part of the movement, Shiv Sena activists would stage a dharna in front of Balaji Bhavan at Liberty crossroads at Himayatnagar on Saturday, he added.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Friday, Sudarshan said some 1,500 non-Hindus among 5,000 employees were working in the world-famous hill shrine Tirumala. Though the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) identified 42 non-Hindu employees and issued notices to them, none of them were removed from service so far, he bemoaned.
Pointing out that Usha Nandini, working as AEO in TTD Hindu Dharma Prachara Samithi at Himayatnagar office here goes to Church every Sunday, the Shiv Sena leader said similarly 1,500 non-Hindu employees in Tirumala were drawing salaries from the TTD and visiting Chuches on every Sunday for prayers. He also alleged that at the instance of Usha Nandini, the regular ritual of chanting of Govinda Namams during Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Kalyanam in the Himayatnagar temple was not being performed.
He also said though Chief Secretary to AP government LV Subrahmanyam had assured to remove all the non-Hindu employees in the Tirumala, the latter failed to keep his promise for the reasons best known to him. Stating that TTD executive officer Ashok Singhal has utterly failed to remove non-Hindus from the service of the TTD, the Shiv Sena leader demanded his removal from office.
Shiv Sena Yuvasena State president Gote Ganesh, Shekhar, Pradeep, Raju and others were present. (NSS)
