GUNTUR: Fifty year old Megaverth Chiranjeevi is elated as he would be celebrating the 78th Independence Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan and President Droupadi Murmu will play host.
The pani puri vendor from Tenali received the At Home invitation to be hosted by the President on August 15 and Chiranjeevi is all set to go to Delhi on August 12.
When he received a phone call from Rashtrapati Bhavan a few weeks after he was invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan, he dismissed it as a prank call. “But on August 1, when officials from the postal department personally handed him over the invitation, it slowly sunk in. I feel honoured more than anything. I was initially nervous, as I don’t know about the protocol and very little about the language and customs there. But my wife and family members calmed me down, he says humbly,” he said.
Megaverth Chiranjeevi has been running pani puri business for the past 15 years in Tenali. For this he took a loan of Rs 10,000, Rs 20,000, and Rs 50,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Svanidhi Yojana over a period of time. He promptly cleared the loans and encouraged digital payments.
Normally, the invitees for At Home consist of dignitaries from various fields. However, for the first time, invitations were extended to common citizens from all over the country including achievers like doctors, agriculturalists, teachers, energy conservationists, AYUSH practitioners, and beneficiaries of government schemes like PM Awas Yojana, Svanidhi, Vishwakarma and Ujjwala Yojna.
“I can’t believe that I’ll be attending I-Day celebrations personally, about which I used to listen to the Radio commentary and watch on TV. I’m delighted beyond words and grateful to the President and Rashtrapati Bhavan for giving such a once in life opportunity to a commoner like me,’’ he said.