Sri Lanka president Rajapaksa worships at Lord Venkateswara shrine

On a pilgrimage tour after the end of the war with LTTE, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa today offered prayers at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near here.

Rajapaksa, who flew in here by a special Sri Lankan aircraft from Nepal, offered prayers at the temple, accompanied by his wife Shiranthi Rajapaksa and an 80-member entourage.
    
On his arrival at the temple, Rajapaksa was accorded a traditional welcome by the priests and temple officials.
    
Before leaving, he was presented with a sacred silk cloth of the Lord, holy water and laddu 'prasadams' by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Chairman D K Adikesavulu Naidu and executive officer IYR Krishna Rao, temple sources said.
    
Rajapaksa had previously visited the temple in July last year, well before the final stages of ethnical war between Sri Lankan army and the LTTE.

He flew in at Renigunta Airport 15 KM from here at 2.20 PM and immediately proceeded to the Hills by road.
  
After completion of a two-day pilgrimage-cum-official trip to Nepal, Rajapaksa on his way back to Colombo from Kathmandu landed in the temple city of Tirupati on a four-hour pilgrimage to offer prayers at the temple, a Sri Lankan official attached to the entourage said.

The Sri Lankan President, however, declined to talk to the huge media contingent which thronged the hill shrine to cover his visit. Tight security arrangements had been made on the hills and roads leading to the shrine from Renigunta Airport.