Mining Reddy’s gift to Tirupathi

India’s most visited and wealthiest deity, Lord Venkateshwara or Balaji of Tirumala, Tirupathi was presented yet another ornamental offering on Thursday.

Tourism minister and mining lord of Bellary, Janardhana Reddy, presented a diamond studded crown worth over Rs40 crore.

The crown studded with hundreds of diamonds and rubies took about nine months for the jewel craftsmen to make. A sparkling huge diamond crusted at the centre of the crown weighs a huge 890 carats.

According to sources close to Reddy, the offering comes as a token of gratitude from Reddy who wanted to thank the deity for the success of their mining business in the last few years.

Reddy was also seeking blessings for the successful completion of the ongoing Brahmini Steel Plant project being implemented at Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.

Apart from Reddy’s family, the members of Health minister Sriramulu’s family too were present when the former presented the crown to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Trust.
 The Brahmini Steel Plant is expected to go on stream in 2010, if all goes according to plan.