KCR offers prayers at Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) visited the Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad and offered prayers on the occasion of ‘ashada bonalu’ on Sunday.

He carried silk clothes for the presiding deity over his head all the way to the sanctum sanctorum. He offered the silk robes to the mother goddess and prayed. The temple priests offered vermillion, a scarf and ‘prasadam’ to the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, pomp and gaiety surrounded the temple, with hundreds of devotees particularly the women carrying ‘Bonalu’ as an offering, lined up for a glimpse of the mother goddess ‘Ujjaini Mahankali’.

The celebrations began under tight security with the State Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav offering silk clothes to the main deity on behalf of the government during the wee hours of Sunday.

Speaking to media at the temple, Srinivas Yadav said that the temple, which was neglected by earlier governments, witnessed a huge transformation only after the formation of Telangana. “Bonalu reflects Telangana culture, that is why Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao declared it as a state festival,” he said adding that Telangana was the only State where even privately owned and managed temples also received government funding.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, MLC K Kavitha, and Congress Legislature Party leader Bhatti Vikramarka, were among the other political leaders that visited the temple and had darshan. The much-awaited ‘Rangam’ (Oracle predictions) will be held on Monday.