Vijayawada: The written instructions from the endowments department to the EOs and Assistant Commissioners not to illuminate the temples on the eve of New Year drew flak from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

He reportedly asked senior bureaucrats why such instructions were given, and reminded them that even the BJP-ruled states did not have such guidelines.





Endowments Commissioner Anuradha told Deccan Chronicle that the matter was in the court, and so she could not comment on the subject.

The AP endowments department had earlier decided not to allow illuminations and celebrations on January 1 at major temples.

Seers and heads of various mathams had demanded that the government and the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) put an end to New Year celebrations, and also stop immediately organising of festivals related to other religions in TTD-run educational institutions.

However, vedic pundits from TTD and Sree Durga Malleswara Swamy Devasthanams (SDMSD) Sthanacharya Vishnubhotla Shivaprasad had been to the CM’s camp office at Undavalli and blessed the CM and his family on January 1. The Sthanacharya clarified that the HDPT had asked not to have anything special inside temples.