Mahinda Rajapaksa offers prayers at Tirupati amidst backlash from MDMK

Tirupati: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa offered prayers to Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala amidst high tensions as 69 MDMK activists tried to obstruct the President’s convoy.

The MDMK workers who reportedly showed black flags to the Sri Lankan President were taken into custody by the Tirumala cops in the early hours on Wednesday.

A reporter from Tamil news channel Sun TV was also manhandled and taken into custody by the cops.

Rajapaksa reached the Tirumala temple at 3 am to take part in the ‘Suprabatham’ seva, following which he also joined the first pre-dawn ritual there.

As the President was set to return at 3:50 am, he was obstructed by MDMK workers near Lepakshi circle.

It may be noted that any kind of protests either political or apolitical are strictly prohibited at Tirumala.

The cops booked the MDMK workers under CrPC 151 and later let them off after recording their postal address and other details.

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu): MDMK protest against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit pic.twitter.com/JLEw7uScD2

— ANI (@ANI_news) December 10, 2014