Setting sqlite temp store directory

Question

I have a Python binary which uses SQLite as its backend database. SQLite's documentation and the code suggests that setting any of the following 3 environment variables should work:

export TMP=/var/tmp/sqlite/
export TEMP=/var/tmp/sqlite/
export TEMPDIR=/var/tmp/sqlite/

If I export the above variables in my bash script just before I start my Python binary, it does not help.

Another option I tried is calling putenv() by setting os.environ:

os.environ['TMP'] = /var/tmp/sqlite/
os.environ['TEMP'] = /var/tmp/sqlite/
os.environ['TEMPDIR'] = /var/tmp/sqlite/

None of above options has helped in persuading SQLite to use /var/tmp/sqlite as its temp store directory. The only option that has worked - which SQLite's documentation says is deprecated - is setting the temp_store_directory pragma statement:

PRAGMA temp_store_directory = '/egnyte/.work/sqlite_temp'

Since using the pragma statement is not the choice I would like to make, is there any other trick?