Jagan seeks Vizag seer's blessings after victory

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday took the blessings of Hindu seer Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswati at the latter's ashram here.

On his first visit to this coastal city after taking over as the Chief Minister last week, Jagan Reddy drove straight to Sharada Peetham.

Clad in traditional clothes, the Chief Minister presented gifts to the Swamy and sought his blessings.

Jagan, as the YSR Congress Party chief is popularly known, is understood to have requested the Sharada Peetham pontiff to fix an auspicious time for the expansion of his Cabinet next week.

This was Jagan's first meeting with the seer after the election results were declared. The spiritual guru reportedly congratulated him over the phone and is also believed to have set the mahuratam for his swearing-in as the Chief Minister.

Jagan took oath at 12.23 p.m. on May 30 at a public ceremony in Vijayawada. He is likely to expand the cabinet on June 8.

The Chief Minister, who reached Visakhapatnam by a special aircraft from Vijayawada, spent an hour at the ashram before returning to Vijayawada and from there to Amaravati.

The YSRCP chief had been following Swamy Swaroopanandendra for the last couple of years. Interestingly, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao also follows the seer and visited his ashram for blessings after winning the Assembly election in December. IANS