Nellore: Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wikramasinghe, along with his spouse, Maitree Wikramasinghe, offered prayers at Lord Balaji’s shrine atop the Tirumala hills on Thursday morning.
The Srilankan PM was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival by the TTD Board chairman Dr Ch. Krishnamurthy, executive officer Dr D. Sambasiva Rao and JEO K.S. Srinivasa Raju. He was then escorted into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple where he offered prayers.
While the priests honoured him with silk vastrams of the deity after Vedaasirvachanam, the authorities presented him the laddu prasadam and a memento.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Wikramasinghe said his visit is purely personal. "The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is getting stronger day by day and I prayed Lord for the welfare of the people," he added.
Minister P. Narayana, Urban SP Jayalakshmi, TTD Board members Suchithra Ella, Bhanuprakash Reddy, reception officials Haridranath, Lakshmi-narayana Yadav, Temple Dy EO Rama Rao and Peishkar R. Selvam were present.
Later, Mr Narayana and other officials accompanied the Prime Minister to Renigunta airport.
