'I am Hindu', says 'Christian' TDP MLA Vangalapudi Anitha over her appointment in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams board

In a letter to AP CM Naidu, the woman MLA requested to withdraw her appointment to avoid any embarrassment to the government.

Chittoor: The appointment of Christian Telugu Desam Party legislator Vangalapudi Anitha's as a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board has sparked a massive controversy. The MLA, who claims to be a Hindu, has now requested TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to withdraw her appointment.

In a letter to Naidu, tweeted by news agency ANI, Anitha said that she doesn't want to cause any embarrassment to the government. 

TDP MLA Vangalapudi Anitha writes to Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu over her nomination to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams board requesting him to withdraw her appointment as a member of the board, writes 'I do not want this controversy to cause embarrassment to you & govt'. pic.twitter.com/NWrjx3OhES — ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2018

“However, I'm deeply pained to learn some groups with vested interests have created an unsavory controversy about this. I would like to state that I am a Hindu, and belong to Scheduled Caste,” she wrote in the letter.

“I do not want this unsavory controversy to cause any embarrassment to you and to the government. Therefore, I request you to withdraw my appointment as member of the Board of TTD,” she adds.

Following Anitha's appointment as a member of the TTD Board, a controversy emerged after a video surfaced where she allegedly claims to be Christian.

"I always have a Bible in my bag and in my car. I don't move out without the Bible in hand," she's seen telling the interviewer in the video, as reported by news agency PTI.

Objecting to this, BJP members said that the appointment of a Christain in TTD board is an insult to Hindus.

The BJYM, the youth wing of the BJP, slammed the government over the appointment and demanded her removal.

"It's nothing but sacrilege. How can a self-proclaimed Christian be appointed to a Hindu religious body," Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) state president S Vishnuvardhan Reddy said, adding "she should be removed forthwith."

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Board governs the Lord Venkateswara's shrine at Tirumala.

With agency inputs