Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu felicitated playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam at the ongoing Visakha Utsav.
Addressing the gathering of visitors on the Beach Road here on Saturday, the Chief Minister praised the resilience of the people of the Port City and showered praise on S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. The singer was honoured with title ‘Swara Kala Samrat’.
Earlier, the Chief Minister visited the flower show, being organised as part of the ongoing Visakha Utsav, at VUDA Park. He visited the venue at 5.40 p.m. and went round the exhibition. Later, he proceeded in an open top jeep, specially decorated with flowers, to the main venue at the RK Beach. He greeted the people on the Beach Road, waving to them in his characteristic style, all along the Beach Road.
He alighted at Panduranga Swamy temple down and walked up to the main stage on the beach, opposite the Kali temple.
He went round the replicas of nine temples of north Andhra, set up by the Endowments Department.
Ministers Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu, MLC M.V.V.S. Murthy, MLAs Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu, Palla Srinivas, Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar and Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, District Collector N. Yuvaraj, VUDA Vice-Chairman Babu Rao Naidu, GVMC Commissioner Pravin Kumar, Superintendent of Police Koya Praveen and Executive Officer of Simhachalam Devasthanam Ramachandhra Mohan were present.
Classical and folk dances, instrumental music were the other attractions on the Beach Road on Saturday. Traditional folk and classical dances and folk arts were also presented at the other venue of the Visakha Utsav at Jaatara near Madhurawada.
The ongoing utsav was an opportunity for the holidayers and visitors to spend their time. There was a stream of visitors at the Parimala Flower Show at VUDA Park right from the morning. The visitors also went round the temple replicas on the Beach Road.
By evening the Beach Road came alive with special lighting adding a spirit of festivity to the regular weekend crowd at the Beach. The carnival on the roads with a number of folk dance performers held the attention of the holidayers and visitors to the venue.
Today's events
The events lined up as part of the concluding day of Utsav on Sunday are:
VUDA Park: Manipuri dance, ghazal, doll dance and musical night.
Jaatara (Madhurawada): ‘Teen Maar’, ‘Chekka bhajana’, ‘jalari nruthyam’, ‘Katti saamu’, ‘Karra saamu’ and other folk arts.
RK Beach: Kuchipudi dance by Bhagavathula Soumya, Annamacharya keertanas by Chaitanya Bros., Kathak fusion dance, comedy skit by Siva Reddy, dances by local artistes, traditional folk dance and musical night by Usha Uthup. The programme will be compered by TV anchor Jhansi.
