UP Legislators To Visit Ayodhya Ram Temple Today, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav To Skip

New Delhi: The Ram temple in Ayodhya will receive a visit from most of the Uttar Pradesh legislators on Sunday, except for the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav who turned down the invitation. The speaker of the House invited Yadav to join them in Ayodhya during a budget discussion on Saturday, but the opposition leader said he would only go when Lord Shri Ram called him. The invitation to offer prayers at the newly opened temple was extended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana to members of both Houses of the legislature.

Mahana said that the lawmakers would travel to Ayodhya on buses on Sunday morning. Adityanath and his cabinet ministers would also go to Ayodhya by air on Sunday and have a darshan of Ram Lalla at the temple, according to an official statement.

It was not clear how many of the 400 MLAs in the assembly and 100 members in the Legislative Council were going to Ayodhya. The ruling National Democratic Alliance has 277 MLAs in the assembly, including 252 from BJP and its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nishad party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

The main opposition party SP has 108 MLAs, followed by Rashtriya Lok Dal with nine, Indian National Congress with two, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik with two and Bahujan Samaj Party with one. The leaders of RLD, BSP, Congress and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik said they accepted the invitation and would go to Ayodhya.

Ten luxury buses with cabinet ministers and legislators on board would leave for Ayodhya at 8 am. The Minister of State for Transport (Independent Charge) Dayashankar Singh made the arrangements for the visit. Ram Dhun’ would be played in the buses during the trip.