Muddada Ravi Chandra assumes charge as TTD executive officer
Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) (PTI): Senior IAS officer Muddada Ravi Chandra on Friday assumed charge as the executive officer of the TTD, the official custodian of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple here.
Chandra succeeds Anil Kumar Singhal, who was transferred recently and is embroiled in the alleged Tirupati laddu ghee adulteration scam case.
The TDP-led NDA government said the CBI-led SIT had accused Singhal, along with O Balaji, FA & CAO, AV Dharma Reddy, former additional executive officer and others of approving tender conditions without "application of mind", leading to the supply of adulterated ghee to make the famous Tirupati laddu.
"Muddada Ravi Chandra, IAS assumed charge as TTD EO (executive officer) inside Tirumala temple on Friday. After taking charge as the new EO of TTD, he had darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy inside the temple," an official release from the temple body said.
The EO took oath as the member ex-officio of the TTD Board at Bangaru Vakili, which was administered by additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary.
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
