late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had close connection with pilgrim town of Puri. He had visited the Shreemandir several times to offer prayer to lord Jagannath.
People will never forget the moment on April 17, 1998 when the then Prime Minister Vajpayee had walked barefoot to the Shreemandir from Raja Nahar (Gajapati King’s palace).
The then district Collector Niten Chandra and other senior officials were waiting to welcome the PM at the Singhadwar of the temple, but Vajpayee did not care about the official reception. Breaking protocol, he moved toward the crowd who were eagerly waving hands at him. “Vajpayee paid visit to Puri many a time. He had ‘Abadha’ in the temple premises,” recalls senior BJP leader Krushna Chandra Jagdeb.
Recounting his experience with Vajpayee, he said, “Once I had taken him to Konark where he practised meditation early in the morning at around 4 am at Chandrabhaga. Witnessing the sunrise on the beach, Vajpayeeji was overwhelmed and termed the place as ‘the meditation soil in a true sense’.”
He also loved green coconut water at Konark. He not only consumed it but also asked all present around him to have it during his visit to the Sun Temple, Jagdeb said.