The Congress on Thursday thanked the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the invitation to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22 but did not divulge its stand on whether top leaders of the party would attend it.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi and the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have received invitations for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
However, according to sources cited by PTI, the senior Congress leaders may not attend the ceremony.
On Thursday, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal confirmed that the party leaders have received an invitation to the ceremony.
“They have invited us, we are very much thankful to them for inviting us, let us (see),” he said during a press conference.
On a question whether the Congress leaders would attend the ceremony, Venugopal said: “You will know about the party’s stand. You will know on January 22 about the participation.”
The invitations were sent individually to Kharge, Gandhi and Chowdhury, the sources said.
According to reports, Gandhi and Kharge were invited by a delegation associated with the Ram Temple construction, including Nripendra Mishra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla at the grand temple. After the consecration ceremony, Mandal Puja will be held for 48 days from January 24 and darshan of Ram Lalla will be open for the public from January 23.
Former president Pratibha Patil, Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda and heads of all political parties have been invited. However, chief ministers and governors are not on the invitee list.
Heads of major temples like Kashi Vishwanath, Vaishno Devi, and representatives of religious and constitutional institutions, Spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Mata Amritanandamayi of Kerala, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, actors Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Arun Govil, film director Madhur Bhandarkar and industrialists such as Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, famous painter Vasudev Kamat and ISRO Director Nilesh Desai are among those to be invited.
