The TDP president and Chief Minister-designate N. Chandrababu Naidu said he would spare no efforts in protecting the sanctity of the temple town.
Mr. Naidu, who flew in to Tirupati in the early hours of Monday for a darshan of Lord Venkateswara, said preserving the tranquillity of Tirumala was of paramount interest to him and reiterated his commitment to safeguard the age-old traditions of the sacred shrine.
Terming his trip a thanksgiving visit to the holy town, he said: “I have been visiting the shrine ahead of taking any major decision. With the NDA meeting being scheduled on Tuesday I have come to seek the blessings of the presiding deity.” Underlining the need to revamp the temple structure and functioning, he said the temple suffered serious erosion of principles in the last one decade, indirectly taking a dig at the Congress government.
To a question, he emphasised the need to develop the Seemandhra region from the grassroots level. When asked to clear the air on his oath-taking, Mr. Naidu merely smiled and said it would be held somewhere in one of the Seemandhra districts.
Mr. Naidu, accompanied by wife Bhuwaneswari and son Lokesh, reached the main entrance of the temple complex along the ordinary queue lines from the Vaikuntham complex. He was accorded a ceremonious reception by TTD Chairman K. Bapiraju, Executive Officer M.G. Gopal and others.
