BJP general secretary and leader in charge of UP affairs Amit Shah on Saturday visited the makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya and said that he prayed that a magnificent Ram temple would be built there at the earliest so that “Lord Ram” can get his rightful place.
Mr Shah, during his visit, gave ample indications that the BJP would revive the Ram temple issue, apart from showcasing the good governance model of Gujarat before the nation for the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Mr Shah, who is Mr Modi’s closest aide, began his UP tour from Ayodhya on Saturday and will be visiting other districts to interact with party workers and make an assessment of the ground realities as far as the BJP is concerned.
“I came to visit the Ram temple, which embodies the faith for crores of Hindus across the world. I have prayed that good governance is established in the country and the nation gets rid of the Congress so that we can build a magnificent Ram temple here,” he said.
Mr Shah, however, evaded all questions related to the CBI chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case in Gujarat. [There are reports that Mr Shah, who was state minister of home in Gujarat when the encounter took place, may be named in a subsequent chargesheet, PTI reported. This was Mr Shah’s first visit to Ayodhya where he held meetings with party leaders and workers. The BJP is desperately trying to regain lost ground in Uttar Pradesh, a state that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. By winning a large chunk of seats from UP, the BJP can get added numerical strength in the Lok Sabha. The party is eyeing about 40 seats form UP and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who is leading the BJP campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, is also said to be keeping a keen eye on Uttar Pradesh.