UDUPI: Tamil Nadu chief minister C. Joseph Vijay visited the renowned Kollur Sri Mookambika Temple in Udupi district and offered special pooja to seek blessings of Goddess Mookambika amid tight security sparking massive fan frenzy on Friday. CM Vijay is the third CM of Tamil Nadu after late M G Ramachandran and the late J Jayalalithaa to visit Kollur temple while in office.
A large number of supporters gathered outside Kollur temple raising slogans in favor of CM Vijay. Some fans climbed over the trees and buildings to get a glimpse of their favorite hero despite heavy rain. He arrived at the Kollur temple at around 3.30pm and offered special pooja. He offered a silver sword weighing 1.6kg to Goddess Mookambika and a consecrated thread was tied to his wrist, a symbol of protection. He spent about 30 minutes at the temple. Later the temple authorities felicitated him.
Udupi district police beefed up security in and around the temple. The police resorted to mild lathi charge to disperse the crowd.
There was no reduction in the overall darshan time available to devotees. Instead of the routine closure from 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm, the temple remained closed from 2 pm to 4 pm on Friday owing to CM Vijay's visit.
As he departed from the temple, he moved beyond usual security protocol and drove himself and headed to a guest house nearby. After resting for 15 minutes, he took over the wheels again and drove till Mangaluru airport where some of his fans posed for a selfie and he headed back.
Earlier, the activists of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike were taken into custody as they gathered at Udyavara on National Highway 66 in Udupi attempting to display black flags raising slogans against Tamil Nadu CM over TN's opposition to the proposed Mekedatu Irrigation Project on the Cauvery River, near the Tamil Nadu border of the Karnataka government. They were taken into custody before Vijay's arrival.
CM Vijay arrived from New Delhi in a special flight and landed at the Mangaluru International Airport at around 1.30pm, an hour late to his scheduled visit. He was accompanied by the high-security convoy and was greeted at the airport by the Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader and officials of Dakshina Kannada district administration. Dakshina Kannada ADC Raju K. presented a copy of the book on Swami Vivekananda.
This is his first visit to Karnataka after taking charge as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. A large number of fans gathered outside the airport to get a glimpse of their favorite actor. Later he proceeded towards Kollur covering a distance of about 120 kilometres from Mangaluru in tight security arrangements made in coordination with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police.
Many fans who gathered outside a private hotel in Udupi, where he was supposed to stay for a while and have lunch before heading to the temple, were left disappointed as there were last minute changes in his schedule as he reached Udupi late and he straightaway headed to Kollur temple.