Shinde-Fadnavis to visit Ayodhya in June

Barely two months after they visited the under-construction Ram temple in Ayodhya, chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis are reportedly set to visit the temple town again in the first or second week of June. According to a Hindustan Times report, this time, they will hand over the consignment of teakwood sent from Chandrapur in Maharashtra to the temple management in the presence of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The proposed visit is being seen as a bid by the Shiv Sena-BJP to play the Hindutva card ahead of the local body polls, which could be held in October-November. The latter are regarded as mini assembly elections, as over 90 percent of the electorate across the state is expected to participate. Insiders from the two parties say that the Hindutva card will be useful for them to counter the aggressive campaign of the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which is in an upbeat mood following victories in a few elections in the state.

The teakwood consignment was dispatched from Chandrapur in March this year. The Vidarbha region, of which Chandrapur is a part, has a large number of teakwood plantations in the forests and surrounding areas. After carving and treatment at a factory in Hyderabad, the consignment, which measures roughly 1,855 cubic feet, will be ready to dispatch to the construction site. It will be used to build the main entrance of the temple, the door of the sanctum sanctorum and other doors in the main temple structure.