Thiruvananthapuram: Controversy followed in the first visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiru-vananthapuram on Tuesday. Modi offered prayers before the presiding deity of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, known as Anan-tha (one who reclines on the Serpent Anantha) where he offered three lotuses and neyvilakku.
Shashi Tharoor MP, V. S. Sivakumar MLA and Mayor V. K. Prasanth expressed their displeasure for being sidelined on the venue where PM Modi launched '75.88 crore worth projects at Sree Padmanabha Swa-my temple under the Sw-adeshi Darshan scheme.
Periya Nambi Edapadi Radhakrishnan Ravi Prasad and Panchaga-vyath Nambi Makkaran-code Vishnu Prasad brie-fed Modi about the prom-inence of Lord Ananth-apadmanabhan when he offered prayers before the deity. Modi was clad in a dhoti and a shawl where the leaders accompanied him was sported in the traditional Kerala shawl and dhoti.
After offering prayers before the principal deity, Modi proceeded to offer prayers before Lord Srikrishna, he offered a garland made of Tulasi where he received pras-adam from the Nambis. Modi also gave dakshina to the Nambis. The PM also offered prayers before the deity of Ganapathy and spent 20 minutes at the temple.
He was accompanied by Governor P. Sathasivam, BJP state president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, MP’s Suresh Gopi and V. Muraleedharan, devaswom minister Kadak-ampally Surendran and BJP Thiruvanantha-puram district president S. Suresh.
When Modi went inside the temple, Mr. Tharoor told reporters that nominated MP's to Rajya Sabha were invited to the dais while the elected members were sidelined. He lamented that the list of names provided by the Chief Minister's Office were cut off by the Prime Minister's Office.
"I respect the Prime Ministerial post. Differences of opinion on political issues should not crop on such events. PMO should respect the positions we hold", said Tharoor.
He also added that PMO showed disrespect. A peeved Tharoor said the PM he knows will not behave in this manner.
Local MLA Sivakumar alleged that this is the first time the elected leaders have been sidelined where PM attended the programme.
“We did not protest just because the place was a religious centre like Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. It was unfortunate that the BJP politicised the event. Even the local BJP leaders were allowed entry on the dais”, said Sivakumar.
