Lucknow: The Shiv Sena is up in arms against the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for holding its rally in Ayodhya on the same date as the Shiv Sena.
The VHP has announced a rally in Ayodhya on November 25 which is also the date when Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be visiting the holy town and will address a rally.
Shiv MP Sanjay Raut who visited Ayodhya on Monday, said that the Shiv had announced its Ayodhya plan last month on Dusshera while the VHP chose the same date later.
“Our programme was declared much before the VHP came up with its programme. The VHP should know that the temple will not be constructed by collecting crowds,”the Shiv Sena MP said.
The Shiv Sena chief will be visiting Ayodhya and special trains from Maha-rashtra will bring Shiv Sainiks for his meeting.
The Sena, apparently, wants to make its presence felt in Uttar Pradesh and win over those disgruntled Hindus who are upset with the BJP. The Sena plans to contest Lok Sabha elections from select seats in UP. The party has demanded that legislation for the construction of Ram temple.
There is no use in indulging in rhetoric and misleading the people on this issue.
VHP spokesman Sharad Sharma, meanwhile, said that the proposed Dharam Sabha on November 25 had been decided by the high powered committee of the VHP last month and the programme had nothing to do with the Shiv Sena programme.
The VHP has already started preparing for the event to which ‘all Ram bhakts’ are invited.
A local VHP leader said that the crowds at the VHP event would give the ‘much needed snub’ to the Shiv Sena which is ‘unnecessarily trying to meddle in Ayodhya politics’.
The local BJP workers are supporting the VHP programme and feign ignorance about the Shiv Sena programme. "The Shiv Sena has nothing to do with UP. They should restrict themselves to Maharashtra. The VHP has been fighting for decades for the Ram temple," said a local party worker.
Meanwhile Shiv Sena sources said that Mr Uddhav Thackeray would now arrive in Ayodhya on November 24 and would honor 100 saints at a programme at Laxman Tila.
