Prez to leave for winter sojourn tomorrow

President Pranab Mukherjee would leave for Secunderabad tomorrow for the customary winter sojourn from where he would be visiting other southern cities for several engagements, including unveiling a statue of former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran.
Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Venu Rajamony said the President will proceed to the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Bolarum, Secunderabad, for the sojourn from December 19 to December 31.
The President will be visiting Tamil Nadu and Kerala on December 20. In Chennai, he will inaugurate 28th Indian Engineering Congress and the School of Commerce and Economics of Loyola College.
In Kerala, he will unveil a statue of late K Karunakaran, former Chief Minister, in Thiruvananthapuram and inaugurate the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Ayyan Kali at Kochi on the same day.

On December 23, the President will attend the concluding function of centenary celebrations of former President Neelam Sanjeev Reddy at Ananthapur in Andhra Pradesh.
Rashtrapati Nilayam is one of the two official retreats of the President of India, the other being 'The Retreat Building' in Shimla.

It is customary for the President to visit Rashtrapati Nilayam and stay there at least once a year and conduct official business from there.
The Nilayam was taken over from Nizam of Hyderabad after the country attained independence.
Located at Bolarum in Secunderabad, this 11-room single- storey building spread over 90 acres was handed over to the President's Secretariat.