Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at the famous Guruvayur temple in Kerala before heading to the Maldives. This is Modi’s first overseas visit in his second term as Prime Minister.
Interestingly, the Prime Minister’s halt at Kerala coincided with Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s tour of his constituency of Wayanad there. Rahul, who reached Wayanad on Friday as part of a thanksgiving trip for his Lok Sabha win from the seat, is scheduled to participate in at least 15 public receptions across the constituency in the next two days.
On his part, Prime Minister Modi arrived in a special navy helicopter from Kochi at Sree Krishna College ground near the temple at 9.50am, news agency PTI reported. He was accompanied by Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran to the temple.
From Kerala, the Prime Minister will begin his two-day official visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. “These visits indicate the importance we attach to the policy of ‘Neighbourhood First’ and will further cement ties with key maritime neighbours,” Modi had tweeted on Friday.
