Bhubaneswar, April 25: The contest among servitors of the Jagannath temple to escort President Pranab Mukherjee was resolved today with the temple administration choosing all the three claimants to escort him.

Madhusudan Pujapanda and his brothers said they had conducted special prayers to Lord Jagannath for Mukherjee some years ago and the Gochhikar brothers claimed they had performed rituals at the temple for the Prseident’s mother Rajlakshmi. Servitor Ramakrushna Das Mohapatra claimed he had performed prayers for the President many times in the recent past. Each had asked for the permission of the temple administration to escort the President, whose two-day trip to Odisha ended today.

“It was decided that all three sets of servitors would be allowed to accompany the President since each had a mention in the “warija” or the temple register where records of visitors and the servitors escorting them is maintained,” said Arvind Padhee, chief temple administrator.

The three group of servitors also showed the President the records of his ancestors, family members and his own visits in the warija. The President gave “dakshina” (money paid to the priest) to the Pujapandas and the Gochhikars.

Inside the temple, the usual rituals went on till noon, after which the public was not allowed inside till the President left. Though the President was expected at the temple around 12.30pm, he reached the Talabania helipad around 1pm after which visited the Puri Raj Bhavan. Thousands had gathered on buildings and outside the temple top to get a glimpse of the country’s first citizen. With tight security arrangements, everything went smoothly. Despite the heat, the anxious crowd waited outside the temple. Many had even brought along souvenirs for him.

“I have tried a hand at penning a short biography of the President which I want to present to him,” said Daitari Mohapatra. Local residents Priyadarshan Patnaik and Gopal Krushna Panda had brought a huge laminated copy of Mukherjee’s kundli.

Villagers of Ramanagar in Kendrapada, which Mukherjee had visited after the super cyclone in 1999, gathered outside the temple to meet him. Tarunkanti, a resident of that village, got a chance to meet the President at Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar earlier today.

Preceded by a convoy of over 20 vehicles, the President reached the Puri temple around 1.45pm where Puri king Gajapati Dibyasingh Deb received him. Though Mukherjee was escorted into the temple by the servitors and the chief temple administrator, the Gajapati stayed back because he can only enter the temple on specific occasions. The President went around the temple for about 30 minutes offering prayers to all the deities.

“The servitors welcomed the President with a khandua pata (traditional silk attire) while the temple administration presented him with a pattachitra of the Sunabesa of Lord Jagannath,” said Padhee.

After he returned from the temple, Mukherjee was treated to a vegetarian platter at Puri Raj Bhavan, which comprised of 22 items including two salads, two soups, a few varieties of paneer curries, jani posto and other vegetables, along with rice and dal. For desserts, he was served the popular sweetmeat chhena jhili. He left for Bhubaneswar around 3.45pm from where he took a special Indian Air Force flight to New Delhi.

Earlier in the day, before his Puri trip, the President was present at Utkal University’s convocation today. Speaking on the occasion, he stressed on the importance of imparting moral education.

“The recent increase in cases of brutal assaults on women and child rape has shaken the collective conscience of the nation. These unfortunate incidents underscore the urgency of our society to pause and introspect our repeated failure to ensure safety and security of our women and children,” said the President. “We must identify the causes and find solutions,” he said.

“Our universities and academic institutions must take a lead in imparting education which will help us meet the moral challenge of our times,” he said.

The President had landed in Bhubaneswar for his two-day trip on Wednesday evening. Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik had met him the same day and submitted a memorandum urging him to grant a special status category for Odisha. The state has been demanding a revision in the criteria for special category status for a long time.

Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan urged the President to initiate steps and direct the Archaoelogical Survey of India to protect the Sun Temple at Konark and the Puri Jagannath temple.