Congress Minister from Himachal Pradesh attends Ayodhya event

Prominent Congress leaders attend Ayodhya ceremony despite party leadership's decision to boycott as BJP/RSS event.

A Minister in the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, Vikramaditya Singh, and former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Nirmal Khatri were the two prominent Congress leaders who attended the Pran Pratishtha (consecration ceremony) at Ayodhya on Monday, even as the top Congress leadership stayed away by calling it a “BJP/RSS event”.

The Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had invited Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Parliamentary party Sonia Gandhi and the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

They had declined the invitation by stating that the Ram Mandir was a “long-standing political project of the BJP” and “religion was a matter of personal belief”.

However, deviating from such a line, Mr. Singh, who is the son of former Chief Minister, the late Virbhadra Singh and present Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh, attended the event.

He arrived in Lucknow on Sunday from Chandigarh and was accorded the status of a state guest. The Himachal Pradesh public works department (PWD) Minister also met with his Uttar Pradesh counterpart, Jitin Prasada.

Another Congress MLA from Himachal Pradesh, Sudhir Sharma, also reached Ayodhya for the ceremony.

Mr. Khatri too attended the event as Ayodhya is part of the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat that he had earlier represented.