Days after a massive controversy broke out, the Andhra Pradesh has withdrawn the name of TDP MLA Vangalapudi Anitha, as the Member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board.
Special Chief Secretary Dr D Sambasiva Rao, in a Government Order issued on Thursday, said that the state government had received a request from the MLA to cancel her appointment, and it had accepted the same.
This comes days after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Hyderabad High Court.
The PIL challenged the appointment of TTD Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav and TDP MLA V Anitha as a member of the religious body's board. It was filed by members of the Hindu Chaitanya Samiti.
The petitioners alleged that Anitha was Christian while Sudhakar had gotten involved in 'non-Hindu' affairs and demanded that the Government Order (GO) which appointed them must be suspended.
Last week, TDP MLA V Anitha sent a letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asking him to cancel her recent appointment as a member of the TTD Board.
The letter was sent after opposition parties including the BJP began circulating a video on the internet, claiming that she was Christian.
The small video clip being circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp shows Anitha during an interview with Vanitha TV in 2014, where she seemingly says, "I'm Christian. Even now, there will be a Bible in my bag, and one in my car. I don't go out without it."
Dismissing these allegations in a press meet, the Payakaraopeta legislator stated that she had always been a Hindu and had never converted to any other religion.
The MLA released her certificates which showed that she was a Hindu along with several photos of her over the years, from her visits to Tirumala.
However, as the controversy refused to die down, Anitha wrote to Naidu, thanking him and asking that her appointment be cancelled.
During an earlier controversy, the BJP suggested that TTD Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav was a Christian. The party also circulated visuals of Sudhakar at a Christian event.
The TTD Chairman later said that he participated in a Christian function in his capacity as a politician and not as a result of his personal faith.