TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy ‘Christian Evangelist’? Here’s The Truth Behind Viral WhatsApp Forward

Claim

Sudha Murthy resigned from Tirupathi board and Jagan (Andhra Pradesh CM) has appointed his uncle, “Yehova Vincent Subbareddy, a staunch Christian evangelist” as chairman.

Fact

Newschecker first ran a keyword search for ”YV Subbareddy Tirupathi Sudha Murthy”, which led us to this tweet by Paul Oommen, a journalist with The Newsminute, dated June 12, 2019, in response to the viral forward tweeted by Madhu Purnima Kishwar. Attaching YV Subba Reddy’s election affidavit to the tweet, Oommen clarified that the Subba Reddy’s initials YV stood for Yarram Venkata, making his full name Yarram Venkata Subba Reddy.

Subba Reddy, an ex-MP and chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, himself replied to the tweet, thanking Oommen for “reiterating the facts”.

A further search led us to another tweet by Reddy, dated June 12, 2019, where he shared a news report of him debunking the viral forward.

We also came across this report, from the Federal, dated June 22, 2019, debunking the claims. According to the article, Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy appointed his uncle and senior YSRCP leader YV Subba Reddy as the new chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust board, which manages the affairs of the Tirumala Venkateswara temple, world’s richest Hindu temple. However, the appointment ran into controversy citing the religion of Subba Reddy, which some Twitter posts alleged was Christianity. Subba Reddy however denied the allegation, saying he was a Hindu by birth and continues to be so. In an interview to a TV channel, he said he would die a Hindu.

Further research led us to a Newsminute report, dated June 11, 2019, stating that Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty quit as member of the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams Trust Board on June 6. According to the article, when TNM asked Murty about the viral messages, she said there was nothing political in her resignation. 

“We were appointed by the previous govt and it is not nice to continue without an invite. My decision was not political, it was just the decent thing to do,” she said, which goes against the viral claim of a motive behind her resignation.

Result: False

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