Devotees in thousands converge at Gopulaipally temple for darshan

Gopulaipally (Nalgonda): Thousands of devotees thronged Sri Varijala Venugopala Swamy temple located on Gopulaipally hillock of Narketpally mandal in the district as one of the astrologers during a spiritual speech stated that having the darshan of Venugopala Swamy on Amavasya which falls on Wednesday gives mental piece and fortune.

Followers of astrologer Sannidanam Lakshmikantha Sarma from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Yadadri and Mahbubnagar and other places reached the Gopulaipally to have the darshan at the said temple. However, they had to face hardships as the temple authorities refused to allow the vehicles to top of the hillock.

Temple priests also faced troubles due to huge influx of devotees from morning till evening. Devotees who came from far off places for darshan were forced to wait hours together for their turn.

Meanwhile, traffic was stalled on Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway to the extent of five kilometers as the temple hillock was located close to the highway. It became a herculean task for the local police to control the devotees and to regulate the traffic on the highway.

Munugodu MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, Nakrekal MLA Chirumarthi Lingaiah and former minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy participated and offered prayers to the deity.

Meanwhile, the irate police raised questions over the astrologer’s version and informed that as per Telugu people beliefs, Amavasya (no-moon day) was an in auspicious day and alleged that it was a plan hatched by few realtors to raise the realty boom in and around the Gopulaipally to mint money in the name of religious sentiment.

Stating that a few realtors were playing with the sentiments of devotees with the help of astrologers and spiritual gurus, the police informed that they were collecting the call data of local realtors to know the facts behind the “Amavasya Mission.” The police urged the people not to believe in advertisements blindly and advised them to aware of realtors who try to sell the plots and mint money in the name of sentiments.

Further, police filed cases against Venugopala Swamy temple founder chairman Komatireddy Mohan Reddy and Astrologer Sannidana Laxmikantha Sarma with the charges of false publicity and cheating the devotees with religious sentiments, at Narketpally police station.