Sonia Gandhi is likely to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, NDTV reported citing its Congress sources. Sonia Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were all invited to the event.
The Congress party stated on Friday that it would decide "at an appropriate time" whether its senior leaders, Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi, will be present at the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary (Communications), confirmed that both Gandhi and Kharge have received invitations to the ceremony. "Chairman Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge have been invited to the inauguration of the Ram Temple. A decision will be taken at an appropriate time and communicated accordingly," Ramesh said.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Wednesday, December 27, said that he had not been invited for the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Sharad Pawar further accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing politics on the Ram Mandir. "I have not been invited to the inauguration of the Ram Temple...BJP is doing politics in the name of Ram temple," Pawar said. "The ruling party does not have any concrete program to garner people's support, so it seems they are trying to create a different opinion among the people using Ram Mandir," he added.
There have also been contradicting reports on the invitation to former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray. While some reports claimed he has not been invited, others said an invitation has been sent. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee are unlikely to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. While Banerjee has not said anything on the issue, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh ruled out the possibility of any leader from the party attending the event. "There is no question of attending the inaugural function. I don't know if any invitation has come, but I know for sure that there is no question of attending the programme," Ghosh told the media. Earlier this week, CPI(M) politburo had issued a statement announcing that the party's General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury, will not attend the Ram Mandir inauguration programme.
The idol of Ram Lalla, to be installed inside the temple's sanctum sanctorum during the consecration ceremony on January 22, will be a 51-inch-tall representation of Lord Ram, resembling a five-year-old Ram Lalla. This idol will be placed on an eight-foot-tall gold-plated marble throne, currently under construction in Rajasthan.
The ceremonial rituals are scheduled to commence on January 16, and on the day preceding the consecration ceremony, the idol will undergo a ritual bath using 125 urns. On January 22, after the morning puja, the consecration of the deity of Ram Lala will take place in the 'Mrigashira Nakshatra' during the afternoon.