Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday offered prayers at the Jagannath Temple in Puri and the Lingaraj Temple here.

The Minister visited the 12th-century shrine in Puri in the morning, accompanied by Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi and Prahlad Singh Patel and other senior leaders of the state BJP and paid obeisance to the presiding deities.

“It is always special to be in Puri. Took the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath,” tweeted Shah, who visited the shrine for the first time after becoming the Home Minister.

The Home Minister later returned to Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar, where he visited the Lingaraj temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

On Friday, Shah had chaired a meeting of the 24th EasternZonal Council in Bhubaneswar, which was attended by the chief ministers ofOdisha, West Bengal, and Bihar. Later, he addressed a pro-CAA rally here.