TRS supremo KCR reaffirmed his earlier statement that priests from Andhra region show off, while their counterparts in the Telangana region adhere to their work only. He termed andhra priests as superficial and decorative and said that they were available for hire for any political party to render favorable predictions. "In contrast, the Telangana priests are committed to their work," KCR said.

It was on the last day of the three-day Chandi Yagam on Saturday that the TRS chief had stated that "the Andhra priests give priority to alankaram whereas the Telangana priests are dedicated to their duties." According to KCR, during the previous yagam performed in 2009, the priests, all of whom belonged to the Andhra region, gave priority only to the decoration and also charged him a huge fee for conducting the yagam. That was why he decided to hire only Telangana priests this time around, he claimed.

Taking a dig at some of the pundits who recited Panchangam (almanac) on Ugadi, he said it was unfortunate that some pundits have become politicized and have become paid Panchangakartas. "A pundit who has performed puja in the TD office on Ugadi says that Mr Naidu will become CM. There was a similar prediction in 2004, but he lost," Mr Rao said.