Bhachchans, Aishwarya in Varanasi to offer special prayers

Varanasi, Nov 26 (UNI) Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek, daughter Shweta Nanda, and brother Ajitabh and his daughter Namarta along with Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh reached here by two separate private flights from Mumbai and Delhi late tonight to offer special prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple.

From the Varanasi Airport, their motorcade reached the Taj Ganges hotel where Amitabh's wife and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan is already staying for the shooting of a Hindi film.

Ducking the media glare, they managed to reach their rooms from the backside of the hotel. They are likely to leave for the Kashi Vishwanath temple after midnight.

There the Bachchan family along with film actress Aishwarya Rai will witness the 'Mangala Arti'. After the Arti, special 'Abhishek Pujan' will be performed by the temple priest to be followed by some specific prayers for the celebrity devotees, temple sources said here today.

After offering prayers, the high-profile devotees will leave for the Sankat Mochan temple for the second round of darshan. As per the official protocol, while Abhishek will leave for Agra tomorrow at 1230 hrs by the special aircraft, Amitabh, Ajitabh and Namrata will depart for Mumbai from Varanasi Airport also at the same time.

Bachchans' family priest and astrologer Chandramauli Upadhyaya told mediapersons that they had come to Varanasi only for darshan and pujan and declined to comment when asked whether the special puja for 'Mangal Graha Shanti' would be performed for Amitabh and Abhishek.

UNI ARS DH VP0050