The Hindu : Kerala News : Chidambaram visits Guruvayur temple

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 03, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Chidambaram visits Guruvayur temple

By Our Staff Reporter

GURUVAYUR, APRIL 2. The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, today made an unannounced visit to Guruvayur to offer prayers at the Sree Krishna Temple.

Mr. Chidambaram arrived here at 3.30 p.m. in a private car from the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery and rested for a while at a private hotel here. He offered worship at the temple at 4.30 p.m. when it was opened for the afternoon pujas. The Union Minister made special offerings at the temple.

IT exemption

The Devaswom authorities told mediapersons here later that they had submitted a representation to the Minister against the move of the Income Tax Department to levy TDS on the deposits of the Devaswom in various banks. The Minister reportedly assured the Devcaswom authorities that he would look into the issue. The Devaswom authorities also gave him a copy of the letter sent to the department on March 30 seeking IT exemption. The Minister assured the Devaswom managing committee chairman, K. Velayudhan Nambiar, who had a separate meeting with him later, that he would look into the IT issue on receiving the application from the Devaswom.

Security confusion

The unannounced visit of Mr. Chidambaram, who has `Z' category security cover, gave some tense moments to the local police machinery.

The Minister refused police escort from the airport to Guruvayur. As it was an unannounced visit, top officials of the police and the administration were not present in the district.

While the SP, Vikram, was in Chennai, the DIG Thrissur Range, Revatha Chandrasekhar, had gone to Ernakulam on a private visit.

Some police officials accompanied Mr. Chidambaram up to the temple and inside in plainclothes without the knowledge of the Minister. Mr. Chidambaram refused security cover for his return trip too. "This is a purely private visit, and just leave me alone," he was heard telling police officials. Mr. Chidambaram also tried to prevent photographers from taking his pictures inside and outside the temple.

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