Chief Minister K. Rosaiah presented the customary silk ‘vastrams' to goddess Kanakadurga atop Indrakeeladri on Wednesday, on the auspicious occasion of Moola Nakshatram when the goddess was adorned as Saraswathi Devi with a veena in her hand.
The temple priests welcomed Mr. Rosaiah, who arrived along with his family members, with ‘Poorna Kubham' near the Rajagopuram at 4.15 p.m.
Ministers Gade Venkata Reddy (Endowments), Pedireddy Ramachandra Reddy (Environment and Forests), K. Parthasarathy (Animal Husbandry), Endowments Commissioner J.S.V. Prasad, Executive Officer N. Vijay Kumar were among those who welcomed the Chief Minister. District Collector Peeyush Kumar accompanied the Chief Minister.
The Vedic scholars performed the traditional ‘aaseervachanam' (blessings) to Mr. Rosaiah after he presented the vastrams. The Chief Minister spent about 20 minutes on the temple premises.
Later, speaking to the media, Mr. Rosaiah said that he prayed the goddess to shower the people of the State with peace and prosperity. “I am very happy that the goddess blessed me with providing an opportunity to visit the temple for the second consecutive year on Moola Nakshatram,” he said.
The day witnessed a steady stream of devotees coming for darshan of the goddess. The celebrations on the sixth day passed off smoothly, barring confusion over tickets and jumping of barricades by the devotees for about half an hour in the early hours.
The movement of devotees in the queue line began at around 3 a.m. As the authorities turned all queue lines into free darshan lines, devotees queued up in the lines meant for Rs.50 and Rs.100 tickets as well. But after a while, the authorities started insisting on purchase of tickets, which led to confusion and crossing over of lines. When the authorities realised that it increased pressure on two ‘Dharma Darshan' queues, which went up to Vinayaka temple, they reverted to ‘all dharma darshan lines' system.
Krishna ZP Chairman K. Nageswara Rao expressed displeasure over “discrimination in quality” of ‘kanduva', an upper garment, presented by the temple authorities to the visiting VIPs. He also sought to register his displeasure “over the treatment being given to VIPs by the temple authorities.” The matter subsided when Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy suggested that it could be discussed later.
Vijayawada West MLA Velampalli Srinivasa Rao, Commissioner of Police P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, Joint Collector Gaurav Uppal, chief festival officer J. Chandra Kumar and others were present during the Chief Minister's visit.
