Nirmala Sitharaman offers prayers in Puri Jagannath temple

Puri: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Jagannath temple and offered prayers to the sibling deities in Puri on Thursday.

Accompanied by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Sitharaman spent more than 30 minutes inside the temple.

The Finance Minister also visited a sand art session on ‘Meri Maati, Mera Desh' by sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik.

Sitharaman and Pradhan also attended a plantation drive in Puri and visited the birthplace of freedom fighter Saheed Jayee Rajguru.

Later, she administered ‘Panch Pran’ pledge to a gathering during a programme at Central Sanskrit University here and said every Indian should be free from slavery mindset instilled by the British.

Sitharaman arrived in Bhubaneswar on a two-day visit to Odisha on Wednesday night.