On arrival,
the first citizen of the nation, H.E. President of India, Smt Pratibha
Devisingh Patil and her spouse Sri Devisingh Ramsingh Shekavat were accorded a
grand reception by the temple priests with traditonal Isthikapal amidst the
chanting of vedic hymns and the AP Governor H.E.Sri ESL Narasimhan and AP CM
Sri N.Kiran Kumar Reddy escorted them to the sanctum sanctorum on Thursday.
The first
couple of the nation spent few minutes praying before the presiding deity of
Lord Venkateswara and later reached Ranganayakula Mandapam where they were
accorded Vedasirvachanam by temple priests. TTD Specified Authority chairman
Sri J.Satya Narayana offered the President Lord's prasadams while TTD EO Sri LV
Subramanyam presented a gold dollar of Srivaru and Sandal Hridaya Lakshmi to
the country's first couple.
The priests
later presented the Sesha Vastram of Lord to the President. Incidentally July
7th happened to be wedding anniversary of the first couple of the nation.
Earlier, the
President followed the temple tradition, by offering prayers first in the
temple of Varahaswamy and later offered prayers to Swami Pushkarini.
Mr.Shekavat sprinkled the holy water of the Swamy Pushkarini temple tank over
his head before going to main shrine. The AP Governor and AP CM who had darshan
through Vaikuntham Queue complex, received the first couple of the nation at
the main shrine along with top brass of TTD.
AP
Ministers, Smt Geetha Reddy, Sri Raghu Veera Reddy, local MP Dr.Chinta Mohan,
local MLA Dr.Chiranjeevi, Tirumala Joint EO Sri Srinivasa Raju, Tirupati Joint
EO Dr.Yuvraj and other VIPs were present.