Tirumala: President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday offered prayers at the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara. He was accompanied by his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee and other family members, besides Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.
As is the tradition, the President, who arrived at the Tirupati airport by a special aircraft at 11 a.m., first visited the temple of Sri Padmavathi Ammavaru in Tiruchanur before motoring up to Tirumala.
Ministers B. Gopalakrishna Reddy and P. Narayana, who were specially deputed by the State government, accorded a rousing reception to the President on his arrival at the Padmavati guest house.
Prominent among others who were present included TTD Chairman Ch. Krishnamurthy, Executive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao, JEO K.S. Srinivasa Raju and several board members.
After a brief stay at the guest house, Mr. Mukherjee proceeded towards the main temple complex, where he was received with the traditional ‘Isti kapal’ and led into the sanctum sanctorum.
The chief priest of the temple honoured him with ‘sesha vastram’. The President stood for about 10 minutes and offered his prayers to the presiding deity. Going round the temple complex, he also made deposits into the temple ‘hundi’.
His darshan was immediately followed by ‘Vedasirvachanams’ by the Sri Vaishnavite scholars at the Ranganayakula mandapam, where the authorities also presented him with the ‘laddu prasadam’, a memento, New Year diaries, and calendars.
Following the President’s visit, the darshan lines were interrupted for more than two hours. Only a select few on-duty TTD staff were allowed to stay inside the main temple as part of the security sterilisation exercise.
Earlier, the President also offered prayers at the Sri Bhuvaraha Swamy temple.
Winding up his five-hour visit, Mr. Mukherjee flew back to Hyderabad, where he is on a winter sojourn.
