Mallya prays at Tirumala

June 21, 2010 03:54 pm | Updated 03:54 pm IST - Tirumala:

Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya coming out of the Lord Venkateswara temple after offering prayers at Tirumala on Sunday. Photo: Special Arrangement.

Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya coming out of the Lord Venkateswara temple after offering prayers at Tirumala on Sunday. Photo: Special Arrangement.

The TTD management on Sunday rolled out a ‘Red carpet' welcome to liquor baron and chairman of the Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya and his entourage during his visit to the sacred shrine.

Though the newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP was to visit the hill shrine during the morning VIP break darshan, the TTD authorities reportedly waited for over an hour with pre-emptied queue lines despite the fact that the temple town is experiencing a good turnout of pilgrims being a Sunday.

The authorities also facilitated him to have darshan from the ‘Kulasekhara Alwar Padi' -- the nearest point from where one can have the darshan of the presiding deity inside the inner sanctum. Soon after Mallya and his entourage left, the authorities slapped the ‘Maha Laghu' darshan system which only entails the devotees to have a glimpse of the deity from a distance.

The temple authorities said that Mr. Mallya was on a thanksgiving visit to the hill temple after his recent election to the Rajya Sabha.

When asked for his comment, the TTD Chairman, D.K.Adikesavulu, said that there was no violation and that Mr. Mallya had purchased the VIP break darshan tickets.

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