The Hindu : Thanksgiving time at Tirumala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 11, 2003

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National

Thanksgiving time at Tirumala

By G.P. Shukla

TIRUMALA DEC. 10.

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti, coming out of the Tirumala temple on Wednesday.

Uma Bharti, the sanyasin who assumed the chiefministership of Madhya Pradesh on Monday, offered prayers at the temple of Venkateswara here today.

As part of her thanksgiving visit, the Chief Minister had her head tonsured conforming to the custom at the temple.

Ms. Bharti had visited the temple in Andhra Pradesh last month before starting her election campaign.

On arriving at the temple complex, she was escorted into the sanctum sanctorum. She stood for nearly 10 minutes in front of the presiding deity, Lord Venkateswara, and offered prayers.

After making a cash offering at the temple `hundi' she spent some time in meditation at the Yoga Narasimha Swamy temple, situated inside the complex.

The Chief Minister partook of the "anna prasadams" and the "laddu" presented to her on behalf of the temple administration.

After coming down from the hills, in the afternoon she offered prayers at the temple of Goddess Padmavathi in Tiruchanoor before leaving for Chennai.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha State secretary, Bhanu Prakash Reddy and the Bharatiya Janata Party district president, C. Narasimha Reddy, accompanied the new Chief Minister.

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