President Pranab Mukherjee visited Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple at Yadadri and performed special poojas, accompanied by the chief minister and governor, here on Sunday.
Governor ESL Narsimhan, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and other ministers welcomed the President at the helipad, as he landed in Surendrapuri at 11.30 on Sunday morning.
Temple priests welcomed the President with Poornakumbham and after a darshan, priests gave the president and his company ‘Mahadasheervachanam’.
Swamy vari shesha vatsralu and Abhisheka laddu were also given to the President and temple officials were given a special memento on the occassion. Later, the Chief Minister explained Yadadri development master plan to the President.
The fourth Indian president to visit Yadagirigutta. First president Rajendra Prasad visited the temple in 1959 and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in 1963. Shankar Dayal Sharma prayed at Yadgirigutta in 1995.
Police arranged tight security for the President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit and security forces were at the temple premises from Saturday night. All shops were closed from morning till afternoon and arjitha sevalu and darshan were also stopped from morning 9 to 2 pm. Additional secretary Smitha Sabharval, adviser Ramana Chary, commissioner Shivashanker, Hyderabad Municipal commissioner Somesh Kumar, ministers G Jagadheesh Reddy, Indhrakaran Reddy and others were also present.