Accompanied by family members and some cabinet colleagues, Rao arrived in Tirupati on Tuesday night by a special flight on a 15-hour maiden spiritual visit to the ancient temple. After offering worship to the presiding deity (Lord Venkateswara) this morning, the Telangana Chief Minister handed over a golden garland studded with fossilised shells called “Shaligram Haram” and a multi-layer gold necklace called “Makhara Kantabharanam,” totally weighing about 19 kg and worth about Rs 5 crore to the temple Executive Officer, D Sambasiva Rao, temple sources told PTI.

It was the first of such huge offering ever made by a state government after Independence in the country, to the 2,000-year-old hill shrine, richest in the world, the sources said. Later, at the sprawling Ranganayaka Mandapam inside shrine, Rao was honoured with sacred silk cloth and prasadam while the high priests, amid chanting vedic hymns, bestowed blessings on him.

Before leaving for Hyderabad, Rao also offered his obeisance and made a gold offering at the shrine of Sri Padmavathi in Tiruchanur near here, the sources added. In a brief chat with mediapersons outside the shrine, Rao said he came to the shrine to offer prayers and make the offerings as well to Lord Venkateswara as a fulfillment of his vow.

The move sparked strong reactions on Twitter with many people calling it a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer’s money. 

Here are some of them:

(Feature image source: Twitter| ANI News)