Party will take call, nothing to politicise: Shivakumar on attending Ayodhya consecration

NEW DELHI: As the date for the grand consecration at Ayodhya's Ram Temple draws near, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar asserted that neither he nor the Chief Minister have received the invite to the ceremony on January 22. Adding to the speculations on whether the grand old party will attend the much-anticipated event, the Congress veteran said that the party will take the call.

"I have not been invited. Neither our CM nor I have been invited. I saw that our Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) has been invited but the party will take a call," Shivakumar said. Projecting himself to be a 'Ram bhakt', Shivakumar said that it is all within oneself, adding that there is nothing to politicise.

"I'm a Hindu; I'm a Ram bhakt; I'm a Hanuman bhakt. We all pray from here. We have it within ourselves, in our hearts. There is nothing to politicise here," the Congress leader said.

As per sources, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge have received the invitation for the consecration.

However, the party hasn't yet confirmed the attendance. Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-Secular President Nitish Kumar, and CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are among other opposition leaders who received the invitation.

CPI (M) has already declined the invitation, calling it a "politicisation of religion," while the attendance of Nitish Kumar is not yet confirmed.