Puri/Bhubaneswar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday visited Jagannath Temple in Puri and Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar and offered prayers at the two centuries-old shrines.
Shah, on a two-day visit to Odisha, first visited the 12th-century shrine in Puri on the second day of his tour amidst tight security and sought blessings from the Trinity – Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath.
Shah had darshan of the sibling deities near the sanctum sanctorum. Besides offering prayer inside the main shrine, the Home Minister also went around the premises and visited the temples of Goddess Vimla and Mahalaxmi. Shah’s family priest Raghunath Gochhikar escorted the Home Minister to the shrine.
Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar and Puri Collector Balwant Singh welcomed the Union Home Minister.
He later visited the 11th-century Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar and offered his prayers.
Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi and Prahlad Singh Patel and BJP’s national vice president Baijayant Panda accompanied the Union Home Minister during the darshan.
Shah spent nearly 30-minute at the Jagannath Temple and nearly 20 minutes at the Lingaraj Temple.
This was Shah’s first visit to the two prominent shrines after becoming a Central Minister.
On Friday, Shah chaired a meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Bhubaneswar which was attended by Chief Ministers of Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar and Finance Minister of Jharkhand.
After the meet, he also addressed a rally on CAA, organised by the State unit of the BJP at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneswar
