'KMF supplied ghee only once in past 20 years' TTD hits back on Nandini ghee supply stopped for Tirupati laddus claim

livemint.com:

Naik said that KMF has been supplying ghee to TTD for making the prasad laddus for several years now. He had said, “For many years, KMF ghee was used for Tirupati Laddu. I'm of the belief that no other ghee can stand up to the quality of Nandini ghee; our customers have given us this 100 per cent certification." Naik also spoke about the current supplier and said that they are supplying ghee to TTD at a very row rate as compared to KMF.

He added, "It may be of the lesser quality compared to ours, but they too might have done testing as they too have labs." It is the decision of the government there and TTD, he said as quoted by PTI. V Dharma Reddy responded to the allegations made by KMF chairman Bheema Naik that the temple body was procuring low quality ghee. Hitting out at Bheema Naik, Reddy said, “How can he say that we are buying bad quality ghee? In the last 20 years they supplied only once.

Do you think for the past 19 years our laddus were bad and only one year it was good, that too with his 20 percent of ghee?" as quoted by PTI. “The procedure for procurement of any item by TTD is on a tender basis. We go for e-tenders.

First technical bid and then financial bid," Reddy told PTI. Further explaining, he said that for an item like ghee, a team of scientists first evaluate the quality of a supplier’s product by auditing their plants and only then allow them into the second round of financial bidding. At the bidder's plant, the scientist assess their capability, strength, milk procurement process, equipment and other crucial factors before giving any plant a green signal.