Akhilesh gets Ayodhya temple invite, says will visit after Jan 22

Lucknow, Jan 14: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has finally received the invitation to attend the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22.

However, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that he would visit the temple, along with his family, after the inauguration event.

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter) late on Saturday night, Akhilesh Yadav said that he received the invitation and also assured that he would come to the Ram Temple as a visitor after the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

“Thank you for the affectionate invitation to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, Ayodhya, and heartfelt wishes for the successful completion of the ceremony. We will surely visit with family as devotees after the Pran Pratishtha ceremony,” the SP leader said in a letter to the temple trust.

The SP leader, in the letter shared on X, also congratulated the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

Akhilesh Yadav's reply came after a political row over the attendance at the ceremony by various political parties. On Friday, Yadav alleged that the BJP was humiliating the opposition parties in the name of Lord Ram.

The Congress has announced that it will not be attending the January 22 ceremony, alleging that the event has been turned into a political one rather than a religious one.

Congress and SP are partners in the INDIA bloc, formed to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP aims to project the Ram Mandir as a key election issue.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders have been attacking the parties declining Ram temple invite by labelling them as "anti-Ram" parties.