Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer prayers to Lord Balaji on Tirumala Hills on Tuesday after inaugurating the 104th Indian Science Congress at Tirupati earlier in the day. The PM’s visit to the temple was added to his programme only Thursday after it was noticed that it was not included in the original schedule.
As per the earlier schedule, the PM would arrive at Tirupati from Delhi by a special flight on Tuesday morning and go to the Sri Venkateswara University campus to deliver his opening address at the Science Congress at 10.30 am. After that, he was to leave for Delhi by around 1 pm. But, now that the visit to the temple has been included to his schedule, the PM will return by 3 pm the same day.
This will be the PM’s first visit to Andhra Pradesh in 2017 and it will also be an occasion for Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who heads a high powered committee on demonetisation to take up some issues which were discussed at the panel’s last two meetings this month with the PM. This will also be the first time Naidu will be discussing the impact of demonetisation with the PM.
Sources close to the CM told this newspaper that Naidu would utilise this opportunity to thank the PM for releasing Rs 1,985 crore for construction of the Polavaram irrigation project across Godavari River.
The Prime Minister is also expected to mention about demonetisation at the Science Congress, which is attended by nine Nobel Laureates, 200 scientists and 18,000 participants. “Science and Technology for nation’s development” is the theme of this year’s Science Congress.