AP, Telangana welcome Lord Ganesh with pomp and gaiety

The annual Ganesh festival began on a grand scale across Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh today.
As many as one lakh Ganesh idols ranging from 3 feet to 60 feet were installed across Greater Hyderabad limits (that comprise parts of the neighbouring districts of Medak, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda), Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi General Secretary Bhagavanth Rao told PTI.
The Hyderabad City Police made elaborate security arrangements to ensure peaceful conduct of the festival.
Apart from the city police force, additional security personnel drawn from different districts were deployed across the city.
Marking the beginning of the festival celebrations, Governor ESL Narasimhan along with his wife Vimala Narasimhan performed special puja of Khairatabad Ganesh here.

Idols of Lord Ganesha in Khairatabad here, Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam and Palakollu of West Godavari were among the most attractive due to their huge sizes.

Huge pandals adorning the Ganesh idols of different sizes were set up in cities like Vijayawada, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and similarly in Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad among others in Telangana.
The annual Brahmotsavams, which coincides with the Vinayaka Chaturthi celebrations at the famous Lord Varasiddi Vinayaka Swamy Devasthanam at Kanipakkam in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh also began today in the temple.
Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated with religious fervour and traditional enthusiasm in other parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu greeted the people on the occasion.