Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao today fulfilled his vow to the Lord of Seven Hills Sri Venkateshwara Swamy by presenting gold ornaments valued at over Rs. Five crores.
The Chief Minister, who reached Tirumula along with his family members and cabinet colleagues besides senior officials yesterday, had darshan of the deity and presented the ornaments to the temple archakas today.
Earlier KCR, his wife and other family members had visited the Sri Varahaswami temple as per tradition and then proceeded for darshan of Lord Balaji at Tirumala shrine. The temple authorities accorded welcome to KCR and his family at Mahadwaram. He then handed over the gold “saligram necklace” weighing 124.2 kgs and valued Rs.Three crores, and also another ornaments weighing 4.65 kgs and valued at Rs.1.21 crores to the temple priests. The KCR couple also presented a nose stud to Godess Padmavathi.
Later interacting with the media, KCR said that he had prayed for the overall development of the two Telugu states and well being of the people of both the states. He was confident that with the blessings of Lord Venkateshweara, all the pending issues and problems confronting both the states would be resolved amicably at the earliest.
Responding to the offerings made by the Telangana Chief Minister, the TTD Executive Officer Sambasiva Rao pointed out that in the olden days, such costly presents were offered to the deities by Emperors and Kings like Sri Krishnadevaraya and Mysore Maharaja. The same tradition has now been revived by KCR and it would be remembered for ever in history. By reviving the age-old tradition, KCR has earned a niche for himself in this regard, he added.
Both the Telugu State’s should flourish: KCR
KCR said that he had taken a vow during the Telangana movement that he would present golden ornaments to Sri Venkateswara Swamy and Sri Padmavathy Ammavaru if separate Telangana State becomes a reality. “Due to Lord Venkateswara Swamy’s blessings we got the Telangana State. I am happy today that I have presented the Ornaments and fulfilled my vow. After the formation of Telangana State I wanted to come here and fulfill my vow. But it did not happen. As they say, unless you have calling from the Lord, you cannot make the visit. In my childhood, I came to Tirupati along with my uncle to have the darshan. But we could not as we heard an inauspicious news and had to cancel the visit and return. Unless you have the grace of the Lord, you cannot come here and have a darshan. I have performed the poojas with utmost devotion and to my heart’s content. I prayed to the Lord to take care of theTelangana State and bless that it should do well. I also prayed from bottom of my heart to make the two Telugu States flourish. Not only the two states, I prayed for the well being of the entire country. I thank everyone for their cooperation,” the CM said in his brief message to people at Sri Ranganayaka Swamy Mandapam.
Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Madhusudhana Chary, Ministers T. Harish Rao, Etela Rajendra, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Indrakaran Reddy, Padma Rao, MPs Smt. Kavitha, Seetharam Naik, MLAs Vemula Prashanth Reddy, G. Kishore, Chief advisor to Government Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary S.P. Singh, Endowments commissioner Shivashankar, CM Additional Principal Secretary Smt. A. Shanthi Kumari, TTD Chairman Chadalavada Krishnamurthy and TTD Board Member Chintala Ramachandra Reddy also accompanied the CM during his visit to Tirupati Tirumala.(NSS)