President follows tradition during Tirumala visit

 President Pranab Mukherjee offered prayers at the Venkateswara Swami temple on Tirumala on Sunday.

 On his maiden visit after assuming the country’s highest office, Mukherjee and his entourage were accorded a grand reception by the temple priests with the tradit ional Isthikapal amidst chanting of hymns. He was escorted to the sanctum sanctorum by governor ESL Narasimhan and chief minister N.

Kiran Kumar Reddy.

 Earlier, the President followed the temple tradition by offering prayers first in the Swami Pushkarini and later in the temple of Bhu Varaha Swami before heading to the main shrine.

 Inside the sanctum sanctorum, one of the chief priests AV Ramana Dikshitulu explained to the President about the significance of the presiding deity and the adornment with jewels.

 Mukherjee spent a few minutes praying before the presiding deity of Venkateswara and later reached Ranganayakula Mandapam where he was accorded Vedasirvachanam by priests.

 TTD Board chairman Kanumuri Bapiraju presented him with silk vastram and prasadams and executive officer LV Subrahmanyam a lamination of Venkateswara and Padmavati.

 Minister for endowments C. Ramachandraiah, joint executive officers K.Srinivasa Raju and P. Venkatrami Reddy, TTD Board members P Rajeswari, Raji Reddy, RV Deshpande, GV Sr e ena th Reddy , LR Sivaprasad, C Ravindra and Ch Lakshman Rao, MPs Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and Chinta Mohan, DIG of police Charu Sinha, TTD chief vigilance & security officer GVG Ashok Kumar, district superintendent of police J.

Prabhakar and others were present.  Mukherjee later visited the Padmavati Ammavari temple at Tiruchanur and worshipped the presiding deity. Minister Galla Aruna Kumari welcomed him with a bouquet at the entrance.

 The governor and the chief minister accompanied him to the temple. Later, the President returned to New Delhi by flight

 Pranab Inaugurates Nandakam

TIRUMALA: President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated Nandakam, a rest house built for pilgrims, here on Sunday. Named after the sacred sword of the Lord, the rest house was built in an area of 2. 62 lakh sft at a cost of Rs 35.8o crore by the TTD.

 This massive building can accommodate nearly 1,700 pilgrims and has parking space for about 300 vehicles. Governor ESL Nara simhan, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, TTD Board chairman Kanumuri Bapiraju and members, executive officer LV Subrahmanyam and others were present.