Hyderabad:

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy decided on Friday to rename the Yadadri temple Yadagiri temple, reversing the decision of his predecessor K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

On his birthday, the Chief Minister offered prayers at the temple in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district and directed officials to change the name from Yadadri to Yadagiri in all records.

The decision was taken at a meeting with officials to review the development of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, popularly known as Yadagirigutta temple.

Popular as Telangana’s Tirumala, the temple of the lion god is located on a hillock at Yadagirigutta, about 55 km from Hyderabad.

The temple was renovated by the previous government of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for Rs 1,800 crore.

Revanth Reddy asked the officials to constitute the Yadagirigutta Temple Board to manage the affairs of the famous temple.

He directed that the Yadagirigutta Temple Board be similar to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which runs the affairs of Sri Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh.

Revanth Reddy directed the officials to complete the pending works of the temple development. He also sought a report on pending works and other issues.

The Chief Minister also suggested to officials to bring a special policy for protection of cows at goshalas. He told officials that if necessary, they should use technology for cow protection.

He also asked officials to make arrangements for the devotees to sleep on the hillock before offering prayers.

The CM also directed officials to expedite the gold plating of Vimana Gopuram. He said the gold plating work should be completed by the Brahmotsavam.

The gold plating work was taken up as part of the renovation and it requires 125 kilograms of gold.

The officials were also directed to complete land acquisition for the temple development. The Chief Minister ordered officials to release the funds required for the purpose.

Ministers Konda Surekha, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Tummala Nageswara Rao, Ponnam Prabhakar, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, Government Advisors Vem Narender Reddy, Srinivasa Raju, MLAs, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Yadadri Temple Development Authority Chairman Kishan Reddy, district collector Hanumantha Rao and others were present.

After taking over as the first chief minister of Telangana in 2014, K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) had renamed Yadagiri as Yadadri and proposed to develop the temple on the lines of Tirumala temple.

The ambitious project for renovation of the temple was taken up in 2016 at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore.

In March 2022, KCR inaugurated the renovated temple. The sanctum sanctorum was reopened after a gap of six years.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)