VIJAYAWADA: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama who arrived in Vijayawada on Thursday preferred to remain in his hotel room, dropping plans to visit Amaravati and declining a meeting requested by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The Dalai Lama is on a three-day visit to the city to attend the first National Women's Parliament scheduled to commence on Friday. He was received by State Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao and Ministers Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and Palle Raghunath Reddy at Gannavaram Airport.
The Chief Minister personally rang up the Dalai Lama after he reached the Gateway Hotel, seeking an appointment at noon. Official sources confirmed that the Chief Minister wanted to join the Dalai Lama on his visit to Amaravati, however, the plan was cancelled after the Air India flight carrying the spiritual leader was delayed by half an hour.
“The arrangements for his visit, including a special convoy, was made, but the trip got cancelled. We are assuming that the Dalai Lama will visit Amaravati after the inaugural function of National Women's Parliamentarian meet," said Krishna district Joint Collector Gandham Chandrudu.
The Air India flight taken by the Dalai Lama stayed mid air for around 30 minutes before landing. Airport Director G Madhusudhan Rao claimed that extreme fog conditions were responsible for the delay in landing. He added that several other flights too faced the problem on Thursday morning.
Sources in the Gateway Hotel said the Dalai Lama hadn't ventured beyond his room after he checked in.
“The flight's delay disturbed his schedule and this was the prime reason for the cancellation of the CM’s appointment. Even otherwise, the Dalai Lama does not meet any person whether he or she be the President or Prime Minister after 3pm. Right now he's taking rest and meditating, choosing a light diet of fresh fruit and a simple vegetable soup,” a source said.
The Buddhist monk's previous visit to Amaravati was in 2006 during the Kalachakra ceremony. He has expressed joy on being able to see the city after 11 years. Speaking at the Gannavaram Airport, he said he was happy to be at the place where Acharya Nagarjuna had lived and welcomed the move to make the region the capital city of the state. “Where there is peace, the economy will flourish. We are achieving growth and surging ahead in technology, but now we must focus on retaining peace and harmony,” he said.
