Jamshedpur, April 23: If you have plans to visit the famous Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, postpone it for a while, as lord Balaji (or Venkateswara) would himself descend on the steel city with his two wives.

East zone Andhra Samiti has decided to bring the original idols of lord Venkateswara and his two wives — Padmawati and Bhudevi —during a four-day religious festival organised at Telco colony from April 24 to 27.

The idols, made of panch dhatu including gold and silver, would be brought to the city by a 40-member team from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam comprising priests and a band of musicians. The famous Tirupati ladoos will be offered to the deities during the festival. The idols will be brought from Tirupati under tight security. Elaborating on the celebrations vice-president of the samiti M.V.S. Murthy told The Telegraph that the puja will be performed as per the traditional rituals and customs followed in Tirupati. “We have taken care of all the nitty-gritties for making the festival a grand one,” said Murthy, adding that the Samiti has entrusted two persons, who will be bringing flowers from Rajamundry for the occasion.

According to Murthy, after long persuasion the government of Andhra Pradesh gave permission to the samity to bring the idol of Lord Venkateswara to the city. “We had approached the Andhra Pradesh government in November last year to allow us to take the idols for the festival. We are thankful to the Andhra Pradesh government for granting permission,” he said.

Murthy said it was the seventh occasion that the idols were brought to the city for worship. “It started in 1985, when we organised a similar function and brought the idols from Tirupati for the first time. We organise the festival to bring peace and prosperity to the industrial of Jamshedpur,” said Murthy adding that the last function was organised in the year 1999.

The festival would begin on April 24 with the inauguration by R.T. Singh, general manager, Tata Engineering. The next day’s rituals would begin with a “Nagar Sankirtan” in which a large number of devotees of Lord Venkateswara from various cross-sections of the society would take part.