TIRUMALA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday evening offered silk clothes to Lord Venkateswara on behalf of the State government on the auspicious occasion of Garuda Seva. Amid tight security in the wake of protests by Opposition TDP demanding that the Chief Minister sign the declaration form before having darshan of Lord Venkateswara, Jagan landed at Renigunta airport from New Delhi. He reached Tirumala at 4.50 pm and was given a warm welcome by Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, TTD Trust Board chairman YV Subba Reddy, TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal and other ministers and officials.
After a brief halt, Jagan participated in the video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Annamaiah Bhavan. Dressed in traditional attire, Jagan offered prayers at the Bedi Anajaneya Swamy temple and from there he carried the sacred silk clothes in a silver plate over his head and proceeded towards the main temple complex amidst the chanting of Vedic hymns by priests to the melodious accompaniment of ‘Melam’ and ‘Nadaswaram’.
Jagan handed over the silk clothes to the chief priest inside the temple and had darshan of Lord Venkateswara. After darshan, he was offered Vedasirvachanam by Vedic pundits at Ranganayakula Mandapam. Later, the CM participated in Garuda Vahana Seva, the most important event, which is held on the fifth day of annual Brahmotsavams.
Jagan later proceeded to Padmavathi guest house where he will stay for the night. On Thursday morning, he will have darshan of Lord Venkateswara once again and will accompany his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa in the ground-breaking ceremony for construction of Karnataka choultries at Tirumala.
Meanwhile, a tight security cover was thrown in Tirupati and on the roads leading to the temple town from Renigunta airport in view of the protests by Opposition TDP demanding that the Chief Minister sign the declaration form affirming faith in the Lord before offering prayers to the Lord.
Several TDP and BJP leaders were placed under house arrest anticipating trouble. TDP leaders in Tirupati town led by former MLA M Sugunamma planned to stage a protest at the TTD administrative building to mount pressure on the temple body to seek declaration from the CM before his visit to Tirumala temple for presenting silk clothes to the Lord. Police, however, foiled the protest by putting all the key leaders under house arrest. Apart from the ex-MLA, former minister N Amarnath Reddy, TUDA ex-chairman Narasimha Yadav, TDP district president P Nani, Punganur in-charge Anisha Reddy and other leaders of TDP were also placed under house arrest. A few TDP workers, however, staged a protest near Alipiri but they were taken into custody immediately and shifted as soon as they launched the stir.
Police also put BJP spokesperson G Bhanu Prakash Reddy, district secretary P Bhaskar and city president Varaprasad under house arrest. Agitating against the house arrest of BJP leaders, party workers staged a demonstration near Alipiri and a few other areas in the city. They too were taken into preventive custody by the police.
BJP leader S Dayakar Reddy, however, said the party did not give any call to protest against the visit of Jagan. “We will, however, stage protests across the State on Thursday demanding that Civil Supplies Minister Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani) be expelled from the Cabinet for his remarks against the practices being followed in Tirumala and on Hindu Gods,’’ he said.