PM Manmohan Singh to visit Lord Venkateswara temple tomorrow

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will arrive here tomorrow on a day's visit to offer prayers at the nearby famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara and also lay the foundation stones for some projects.

This would be Singh's second visit to the ancient shrine and the first after UPA II came to power. Earlier, he had offered prayers at the temple on September 25, 2005.

Singh would arrive at Renigunta by a special IAF aircraft at 10.30 am and proceed to Mannavaram, 35 kms from here, for laying the foundation stone of the Rs 6,000-crore NTPC-BHEL joint venture manufacturing plant for power equipment, officials said.

The prime minister would arrive here by a helicopter and proceed to Tirumala hills by road. After offering worship at the hill temple in the afternoon, Singh would return to Renigunta.

He would then lay the foundation for the Tirupati International Airport before leaving for New Delhi at 5.20 pm, they said.

The NTPC-BHEL project has been delayed for over a year now as the prime minister's programme repeatedly got cancelled because of various reasons.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah and several Union ministers are expected to accompany Singh.

A thick security blanket has been put in place in view of the prime minister's visit.