Clad in traditional attire, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy offered flowers, ‘harathi’, and ‘vastrams’ to the statue of Tungabhadra Thalli on the banks of the Tungabhadra, marking the beginning of the 12-day Pushkaralu at the Sankal Bagh Pushkar Ghat here on Friday amid tight security and COVID-19 protocol.
At the auspicious 1.21 p.m., the Chief Minister, accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, performed the rituals standing in knee-deep water at the ghat, and later made all the traditional offerings to the fire God at the ‘homam’ performed at the ghat.
He also offered prayers to all the four ‘mandapams’ – Yagasala - Vaastu Mandapam, Sarvathobhadra Mandapam, Yogini Mandapam, and Navagraha Mandapam.
Earlier, the Chief Minister was received with ‘Poornakumbham’ and blessed by the priests.
He was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister S.B. Amzad Basha, and Ministers P. Anil Kumar, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, G. Jayaram, V. Srinivas, and M. Sankaranarayana. Hindupur MP Gorantla Madhav and MLAs from all the constituencies of Kurnool district were present.
At Mantralayam
At Mantralayam, where the Tungabhadra enters the State, the Peethadhipathi of the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, Subudhendra Tirtha, along with others, performed puja and took a holy dip at the appointed time of 1.21 p.m.
There was hardly any crowd at the ghats in the district on the first day of the Pushkaralu.
At the Sankal Bagh Ghat, the presence of a large posse of police personnel kept the common devotees away from the venue with only the VIPs making their way to the riverside.
The police were expecting crowds to descend on the ghats on Saturday and Sunday, and on second Monday of ‘Karthika Masam’.
Earlier, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy arrived by a special flight to the Orvakal airport, where he was received by district Collector G. Veerapandian, DIG Venkateswarlu, Nandyal Sub-Collector Kalpana Kumari, and Superintendent of Police Fakeerappa Kaginelli.
