TIRUPATI: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday arrived at his native Naravaripalle village in Chandragiri constituency of Chittoor district for the Sankranti festivities.
Though Mr. Naidu used to celebrate the three-day festival in Hyderabad in the past, he made it a practice in the last three years to celebrate the festival of harvest along with his family members at his ancestral home, located 20 km from Tirupati.
His brother-in-law N. Balakrishna, who is basking in the success of his runaway hit film, ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni,’ could not accompany Mr. Naidu as he did in the last couple of years.
Mr. Naidu arrived at Renigunta airport at 4.15 p.m., where he was received by Ministers P. Narayana (Municipal Administration) and B. Gopalakrishna Reddy (Environment and Forest), legislators M. Suguna (Tirupati) and T. Aditya (Satyavedu), MLC G. Srinivasulu, TTD Executive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao, Collector Siddharth Jain, DIG of Police (Anantapur range) N. Prabhakara Rao, and Superintendent of Police R. Jayalakshmi. They exchanged pleasantries and conveyed Sankranti greetings to the Chief Minister.
Mr. Naidu later released a poster on ‘Go Puja’ brought out by party leader Nainar Ponna Rao for ‘Kanuma’, the festival of cattle.
Mr. Naidu then reached his village by road, where he would celebrate Sankranti (January 14) at his mango garden in the midst of his family members.
He is expected to garland the statue of party founder-president and actor N.T. Rama Rao, pay tributes at the ‘samadhi’ of his parents, and also offer prayers at the temple of Nagalamma.
He is scheduled to leave for Vijayawada on January 15.
Meanwhile, mild skirmishes were witnessed between the TDP and YSR Congress activists in Pudipatla, en route Naravaripalle, over display of posters welcoming Mr. Naidu.
The police had to intervene and resolve the tiff.
