PURI: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao visited Sri Jagannath Temple here on Monday. Accompanied by his wife K Shobha, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi supremo went through details of his ancestral village in the temple records.
“The Telangana CM keenly browsed details of visitors from his ancestral village, Chintalamadaka in Siddipet Mandal in the records maintained here. Since we maintain history of devotees from different parts, records of Chintalamadaka was available and he went through it at the Jagamohan of Mahalaxmi Temple,” said Ipsit Pratihari, the hereditary panda (servitor), who showed him around the 12th century shrine.
After completing his ‘darshan,’ KCR was pleasantly surprised to see about 100 devotees from Telangana, who had gathered on the temple premises to meet him. “He had an interaction with them at ‘Sata Pahacha’ as well as ‘Baisi Pahacha.’ The group from Telangana was excited to see their CM and even raised slogans of Jai Telangana,” said Pratihari.
KCR signed in the visitor’s book in English but noted the details of his visit in Telugu.
He spent a fair bit of time in the Jagannath Temple where he visited Satya Narayan temple, Mukti Mandap, Bimala Temple, Bedha Kali temple and Mahalaxmi Temple where the priests presented him paddy panicles. Earlier, he was received by Puri Collector JP Das.