No govt money to be spent on 'chandi yagam', says T'gana CM

Hyderabad, Dec 18: Telangana Chief Minister K Chnadrasekhar Rao today said all the expenses for the upcoming 'Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam' being performed in the state, would be borne by him with the support of his friends and no government funds would be used for the event.

"It is purely my own Yagam. Some of my friends have come forward to support it. I am spending money form own account. Not even single naya paisa will be used by the Government," Rao said.

The 'Ayutha Maha Chandi Yagam' is scheduled to be performed at Rao's farmhouse in the neighbouring Medak district between December 23 and 27. He said President Pranab Mukherjee would be attending the 'yagam' on one of the days during his stay in Hyderabad.

According to an official release, Pranab Mukherjee will be attending the 'yagam' on December 27. The Chief Minister said besides the President, Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Bandaru Dattatreya, Supreme Court Judges Justice N V Ramana and Justice J Chelameswar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu are among others would attend the ceremony.

Rao also said that although he had personally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 'yagam', there is no communication from him about his attendance. All arrangements have been made to accommodate as many as 40,000 invitees for the programme, Rao said.

The 'yagam' would be supervised by six Vedic pundits from the Sringeri Mutt in Karnataka and about 2,000 other pundits from across the country would take part in it. About 50,000 people would be provided food during the 'yagam', an official release had said earlier.

PTI