In a swift and sudden development, YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday appointed his trusted lieutenant and Tirupati MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy as the next chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, putting to rest all the speculations.
Orders to this effect were issued on Saturday evening. He would be replacing senior leader and YSRC in-charge of north-costal Andhra districts Y V Subba Reddy, who would be completing his second term on August 7.
This is for the second time that Bhumana would be the chairman of the TTD. He was earlier the TTD trust board chairman between 2006 and 2008 during the regime of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.
He would now be in the same post for the next two years. Soon after the appointment, Bhumana met the chief minister and expressed gratitude for giving him the honour of being the TTD chairman for a second time.
Till Saturday morning, there were various speculations over the appointment of the TTD chairman, as there were more than one contenders for the post.
The names of several seniors like Chandragiri MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, former minister Siddha Raghava Rao and BC leader Janga Krishna Murthy were in the reckoning.
There was a talk that Jagan might not prefer a Reddy this time, as Subba Reddy had been holding the fort for the last two terms. Instead, he might prefer a BC candidate like Janga Krishna Murthy or a Vysya candidate like Siddha Raghava Rao. The name of a Kapu leader was also said to be considered for the post.
However, sources said Bhumana made a silent lobbying with Jagan. He met the chief minister a few days back and requested for considering his name for the post.
Finally, Jagan thought loyalty to the party was more important than the caste and hence, zeroed in on Bhumana, sources added.
