For the fourth time in two decades, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has approved a plot allotment to its board member, Janga Krishnamurthy, for constructing a guest house in the sacred town of Tirumala. This repeated allocation has sparked considerable debate.
During its most recent meeting, the TTD trust board officially sanctioned the allocation of Plot No. 2 in Balaji Nagar, located on Tirumala hill, specifically for Mr. Janga Krishnamurthy’s guest house project.
Interestingly, Mr. Krishnamurthy, who is also an MLC, first sought this plot in 2005, and it received initial approval. However, the allotment was later cancelled when the TTD significantly increased the required donation for individual donor cottages from ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh, an amount he did not remit.
Despite the initial cancellation, the Endowments Department intervened in 2008, instructing the TTD to re-allot the plot to him. Yet, no construction commenced. A remarkable thirteen years later, in 2021, the TTD management again allocated the very same plot to Mr. Krishnamurthy, this time requesting a payment of ₹1.1 crore.
The situation grew more complex in October 2022 when Mr. Krishnamurthy requested the plot be transferred to the ‘Om Sree Namo Venkatesaya Global Trust’. The TTD trust board, in an April 15, 2023 meeting, rejected this, cancelling his personal allotment due to non-payment and citing TTD’s strict rules against transferring individually allotted plots to a trust.
Following a change in the state’s leadership, Mr. Krishnamurthy was appointed to the TTD board in November 2024. Seizing this opportunity, he applied for the same plot for an unprecedented fourth time.
Despite reports that other donors were willing to pay over ₹7 crore for similar plots, the trust board controversially approved his request at the original, significantly lower rate, according to insider sources.
Significantly, fellow board member and BJP State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy voiced his strong dissent during the meeting, highlighting the contentious nature of the approval. Reddy has a history of opposing the TTD’s practice of allocating land at nominal prices, a stance that previously led to the implementation of an auction system for such parcels.
While acknowledging that Mr. Janga Krishnamurthy’s intent for a trust-based allotment might be devotional and not for personal enrichment, other trust board members and officials raised “serious concerns of institutional propriety and conflict of interest.” This was primarily because Mr. Krishnamurthy serves both as a TTD board member and is part of the crucial Estates Committee responsible for land allotments.