1.5 lakh people throng Balaji temple on Vaikunta Ekadasi day

An estimated over 1.5 lakh devotees, including a large number of VIPs, from different parts of the country thronged the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara at nearby Tirumala on the occasion of "Vaikunta Ekadasi" festival, considered most auspicious.

Tirumala presented a picture of sea of devotees as pilgrims kept pouring into the town since Monday evening and were accommodated in massive waiting complexes and serpentine queue lines before being allowed into the ancient shrine for darshan from the wee hours Tuesday.

After offering prayers, the devotees, including the VIPs, walked out through the traditionally bedecked sacred "Vaikunta Dwarams" (passage), around the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine,which is opened only on the Vaikunta Ekadasi day.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, his son and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos wife Shobha and relative and minister T. Harish Rao were among those prominent who visited the shrine, a temple official told PTI.

A large number of lawmakers and ministers besides Judicial officers, bureaucrats, media barons and business magnates from across the country also had darshan of Lord Venkateswara.

After conducting special rituals, the high priests adorned the idol of the presiding deity with several special diamonds set golden ornaments, including the big diamond crown, for the special occasion.

As part of the festival, a golden chariot procession of the 'utasav' idol of the Lord was taken out around the over 2000-year-old shrine to the chants of "Govinda, Govinda" by the devotees.