Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew directly down to Bengaluru early on Saturday, after concluding his two-nation visit to South Africa and Greece, to congratulate and meet the ISRO scientists involved in the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon.
Modi will visit the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), where he would be briefed about Chandrayaan-3's progress.
Addressing the people gathered outside the HAL airport in Bengaluru, he said, “I could not stop myself as I was not in the country, but I decided to visit Bengaluru first and meet our scientists right after visiting India.”
He also raised the slogan ‘Jai Vigyan Jai Anusandhan’.
ALSO READ: Chandrayaan-3's Tamil connect: The soil from Nammakal and the three scientists
BJP Karnataka president Nalin Kumar Kateel was present to welcome PM Modi. But the prime minister, in his address, said that he requested Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to not come and receive him at this early hour.
Soon after reaching Karnataka’s capital, the prime minister tweeted that he’s “looking forward” to interacting with “our exceptional ISRO scientists, who have made India proud with the success of Chandrayaan-3”.
The prime minister returned after concluding his four-day tour of South Africa and Greece. In Johannesburg, Modi attended the 15th BRICS Summit from August 22 to 24.
On August 23, the Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down on the Moon's surface. Modi had then joined the ISRO team at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISTRAC virtually from South Africa.
