After arriving at the Gannavaram airport at 9.35 a.m. on Thursday with family, President Ram Nath Kovind was flown in a special helicopter to Acharya Nagarjuna University where he delivered the inaugural address at the centenary conference of the Indian Economic Association.
His wife Savita Kovind and daughter Swati Kovind spent the three-hour-long span going around places in Vijayawada and relishing the flavours of the Andhra culture.
The First Lady and her daughter headed straight to the city by road and visited the rose show at the Swaraj Maidan, had darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga atop Indrakeeladri and then reached the picturesque Bhavani Island.
They were accompanied by Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, Commissioner of School Education Sujatha Sharma, Krishna district Collector B. Lakshmikantham and Deputy Commissioner of Police Kanthi Rana.
Andhra Pradesh Mahila Commission chairperson Nannapaneni Rajakumari and Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner J. Niwas received them at the rose show.
At the Durga temple, they were received with the traditional welcome by chairman of the temple’s governing body Y. Gowrang Babu, Executive Officer A. Surya Kumari and other members. After darshan, they relaxed for a while and headed to the Punnami Ghat where they boarded a tourism boat to reach the Bhavani Island.
A warm reception was arranged for them by tourism wing Director Himanshu Shukla. For the entertainment of the ‘special guests’, women performed a kolatam followed by a savara dance by artists from Srikakulam.
They also went around an exhibition of locally-manufactured traditional garments like the Mangalagiri silk saris, bought world famous Kondapally toys from a Lepakshi stall and tasted Bandar laddu at a sweet stall and headed back to the Punnami Ghat after enjoying the recently-installed musical fountain and laser show.
