KCR Accorded Tumultuous Welcome At Tirupati

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao arrived at the Renigunta airport this evening to a grand and tumultuous welcome on his maiden visit to the Tirumala temple after the bifurcation of united AP to fulfill the promise to the Lord he was to keep if a separate Telangana State happened.

The Chief Minister, accompanied by his wife Shobha, daughter Kavitha and their families, arrived by a special chartered flight from the Begumpet airport. Upon arrival, they were received at the Renigunta airport by Telangana Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, ministers T Harish Rao, Etela Rajender, A Indrakaran Reddy, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, K Padma Rao, Advisor to the Government Rajiv Sharma, Chief Secretary S P Singh and other senior officials, who had reached Renigunta earlier in another chartered flight.

KCR, who will be spending the night at Tirumala, will present to the Lord and His consort Padmavathi, gold ornaments worth Rs 5.5 crores at a special puja on Wednesday morning, as part of the promise he is to keep.

While tight security arrangements were made for the Chief Minister's visit, the temple town of Tirupati was virtually painted pink with flags, buntings, flexes, hoardings and welcome arches put up by various organizations, including Telugu associations from the neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Indeed, KCR seems to have turned popular in Andhra Pradesh, where in some districts his birthday was also celebrated on a grand scale by his admirers.