Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a two-day Odidha visit, offered prayers at Lingaraj temple this morning, the last Monday of holy Odia month Shrawan.
Shah spent about 20 minutes on the temple premises and offered a special puja. Before leaving the temple, Shah signed the visitors book maintained by his family priest.
"I am very happy to have darshan of Mahadev in the famous Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar during the holy month of Shrawan. The temple is a historical place of Indian culture, on which every rock is a wonderful miracle of ancient Indian craftsmanship," tweeted Shah.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, party spokesperson Sambit Patra and other senior leaders accompanied Shah during the visit to the shiva shrine.
He then had breakfast at Odisha BJP president Sameer Mohanty's residence. Later, Shah visited Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birthplace in Cuttack.
He will also attend a function, marking the 75th anniversary of an Odia daily newspaper at Indoor Stadium in Cuttack.
Later, the union home minister is scheduled to visit the Odisha BJP office in Bhubaneswar, where he will meet senior party leaders. In the evening, he will attend a book reading of Modi@20 at Mayfair hotel here before flying back to Delhi.
Shah arrived in Bhubaneswar last night at around 1.30 a.m. to a warm reception by BJP party leaders and workers. Despite delay in his scheduled arrival, a large number of BJP workers throng to the airport to welcome their leader.
Meanwhile, MP Aparajita Sarangi alleged violation of protocols by the Odisha government during Shah's visit to the state. "MoS (home) Tusharkanti Behera was not there when the union home minister arrived in Odisha. Why was the DGP not there to welcome Shah?" asked Sarangi.
Only the special secretary, home, was there to receive him. Under which circumstances, the home secretary has not come to the airport, she further asked.
The BJP leader said: "Despite Odisha being a non-NDA ruled state, the union government has remained impartial to Odisha and always stands with the state."
Tight security arrangements have been made in twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for Shah's visit.
Terrorists kill former sarpanch in Shopian, injure tourist couple in Anantnag
Terrorists killed a former sarpanch in J&K's Shopian district on Saturday besides injuring a non-local tourist couple in Anantnag district.
Four generations ruled Delhi but today they can’t even contest four seats: PM Modi rips into Congress
Taking a jab at the grand old party, PM Modi said, “Four generations of Congress ruled the country, but today they are reduced to such a state that they can’t even contest four Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.”
BJP protests CPI(M), Congress’ ‘misleading’ campaign against Govt
The ruling BJP in Tripura launched a state-wide protest against the opposition CPI(M) and the Congress party over ‘misleading’ the people of the state by hatching conspiracy against the government.
Four Bangladeshi nationals held from Agartala railway station while boarding train to Chennai
In yet another major crackdown on illegal infiltration, the police of GRP and Railway Protection Force on Saturday detained at least 4 Bangladeshi nationals and another Indian tout from Agartala railway station.
One held with gold biscuits worth Rs 36 lakh
In the fight against the menace of trans-border smuggling in the state of Tripura, BSF on May 18, arrested one smuggler and seized 04 gold biscuits worth Rs 36.6 lakhs.
10 endangered turtle species found in Bengal's New Jalpaiguri railway station
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) while conducting routine checking at New Jalpaiguri railway station of West Bengal recovered 10 live endangered species of turtles that were being transported illegally, officials said on Saturday.
India hot investment destination for Western corporate giants: UN report
The report which has increased the forecast of India’s GDP growth by 0.7 percentage points to 6.9 per cent identifies increased foreign investments as an important factor that is propelling the country’s GDP growth.
Maliwal assault case: Kejriwal's PA Bibhav Kumar arrested from CM residence
Acting swiftly on former DCW chief Swati Maliwal’s FIR over assault in 'Sheeshmahal’, the Delhi Police on Saturday arrested Arvind Kejriwal’s personal secretary Bibhav Kumar from the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence.