Sri Lankan PM Wickremesinghe likely to visit Tirupati and Guruvayur

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is likely to offer worship at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near in Tirupati and the Sri Krishna temple at Guruvayur in Kerala soon.

Talari Ravi, PRO of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) which manages the country's richest hill temple, told PTI on Saturday that the Lankan PM expressed his desire of visiting the hill shrine and the Krishna temple at the earliest.

Wickremesinghe disclosed this to TTD Chairman Chadalavada Krishnamurthy when he met and offered the shrine's sacred laddu 'prasadam' and holy water to him in Colombo on Saturday. Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as PM, had earlier visited the hill temple on August 24 in 2002, the PRO said.

The TTD Chairman, who was in Sri Lanka on the invitation of the management of the ancient shrine of Lord Muruga, known as Kartikeya, at Kataragama in Lanka paid a courtesy call on the PM. The TTD Chairman would also meet Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena at a religious celebration at the Kataragama temple complex on Sunday, the PRO said.

Meanwhile, TTD Executive Officer D Sambasiva Rao on Saturday met the I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu in connection with the TTD proposal for launching the Sri Venkateswara Bhakthi Tamil Channel. The TTD had sent its proposal to the ministry some years ago, but was yet to get a reply.

During the meeting, Naidu assured the officer that he would take initiatives positively in this regard soon, the TTD PRO said. TTD has been broadcasting SVBC Telugu Channel for the last one decade, he added.