Chief Minister of Telangana, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, on Monday offered his prayers at the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala. He was accompanied by his family members, wife K. Shobha.
After an overnight stay atop the town Mr. Rao visited the temple during the VIP break this morning.
He was accorded a warm reception by the TTD authorities on his arrival at the main temple complex and led into the sanctum sanctorum where he stood in front of the main deity for about ten minutes and paid his obeisances. The chief priest also honoured him with the silk vastram of the Lord.
Later a battery of temple priests showered vedasirvachanam on Mr. Rao and his family at Ranganayakula mandapam inside the temple while TTD Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadhav and Executive Officer Anilkumar Singhal presented him with a memento and laddu prasadam of the deity.
As is the practice, he also offered prayers at the temple of goddess Padmavati ammavaru at Tiruchanoor and paid a visit to the private temple constructed by Chandragiri YSRCP MLA C. Bhaskar Reddy at Mallamgunta en route to airport from where he flew back to Hyderabad.
This is the second visit of Mr. Rao to the temple in the capacity of Chief Minister. During his previous visit, Mr. Rao had donated gold ornaments worth ₹5 crore to the presiding deity for having achieved statehood for Telangana.
