It is quite natural that people would vie to become the chief of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD), that was supposed to be the richest temple india, before Sri Thiruvananthapuram Padmanabhaswamy Temple treasure was found. TTD chief post has also is a matter of prestige for the incumbents of that post. Interestingly, though several Congress leaders were in the race for TTD chairmanship, suddenly the government surprised everyone by appointing Narsapur MP Kanumuri Bapiraju.

The term of the Specified Authority comprising bureaucrats that has been running the TTD affairs for the last many months ended few days earlier. Sources in the Congress claim that the name of Bapiraju, belonging to the Kshatriya community, was cleared by the Congress high command in the hope that the community, that has been increasingly veering towards the TDP especially in coastal Andhra, would remain with the ruling party.

Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had backed the candidature of Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, but in view of his frequent criticisms of the party high command, he was bypassed. Incidentally, neither newly joined Congress leader Chiranjeevi nor his team of MLAs who merged their PRP party with the Congress found a place, though Chiranjeevi reportedly tried for his brother-in-law Allu Aravind for the post of TTD chairman.

Three Congress MLAs, Ch Mutyam Reddy (Dubbaka, Medak), R Suyraprakash Rao (Rajahmundry) and P Rajeshwari Devi (Gannavaram, East Godavari), have made it to the reconstituted TTD board in which K V Ramanachary, principal secretary, endowments, and executive officer L V Subramanyam will figure as ex-officio members. Meanwhile, the TDP is said to be wooing the miffed Guntur MP, who is mulling over with the idea to quit Congress.