THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 83rd Sivagiri pilgrimage will be held from December 30 to January 1. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the pilgrimage on December 30. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be the special guest at the function, which will be presided over by Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust president Swami Prakashananda.
CPI national secretary Sudhakar Reddy, KPCC president V M Sudheeran and Ports Minister K Babu will be the chief guests. The inaugural function will be followed by a health and hygiene meet. It will be inaugurated by Sri Lankan Minister of National Dialogue Mano Ganesan. Minister of State for Tourism Mahesh Sharma will inaugurate an agri-handicraft meet in the evening. Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala Veerendra Hegde will preside over the spiritual meet to be inaugurated by Meghalaya Governor V Shanmukhananthan. Latin Catholic Church Archbishop M Soosai Pakiam will be the chief guest at the function.
A pilgrimage summit will be held on December 31. Vice-President Hamid Ansari will inaugurate the function. An industrial summit on the same day will be inaugurated by Karnataka Home Minister G Parameswara. On January 1, a procession will be taken out from Sarada Math to Mahasamadhi and a special pooja will be conducted, Swami Rithambarananda has said.