New Delhi:
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offered prayers at the makeshift Ram Temple at the disputed site on Wednesday in his first trip to the temple town after assuming the Chief Minister office.
Yogi Adityanath is himself said to be huge follower of Lord Ram and he has already been to Ayodhya many times before. The Ram Temple issue has been on the priority list of Bhartiya Janata Party for decades now. The proposed visit has already created stir among political circles in UP.
The UP chief minister, who arrived in Ayodhya on Wednesday morning, spent around 30 minutes at the makeshift temple in the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid complex. He later offered payers on the banks of the Saryu River.
Adityanath began his visit by offering prayers at the Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya.
He was accompanied by Dharam Das, against whom conspiracy charges were framed yesterday along with the other BJP leaders.
The visit comes a day after criminal conspiracy charges were framed against top BJP leaders in the Babri mosque demolition case.
On Tuesday, a special CBI court in Lucknow framed charges against BJP veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi, Union minister Uma Bharti and nine others in the 1992 Babri mosque demolition case.
Before Advani reached the court, Adityanath had met him at the VVIP guest house in Lucknow.
The Supreme Court had ordered restoration of the conspiracy charge against them on April 19.
All six were on Tuesday granted bail by CBI special judge S K Yadav on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 each after rejecting the CBI’s opposition to their bail plea.
The apex court had while restoring the charge of criminal conspiracy, directed clubbing of two cases relating to the demolition. The court had also ordered that the trial be concluded in two years.
The CBI had charge-sheeted 21 people in the case. Many of them, including Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and the VHP’s Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal, Paramhans Ram Chandra Das and Mahant Avaidhynath, have since died.
With PTI inputs
UP: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath arrives in Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/gzmPfFppZY
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 31, 2017
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visits Hanumangarhi temple, in Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/J0OGOlRxfU
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 31, 2017
UP CM Yogi Adityanath offers prayers on the banks of River Saryu, in Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/IWKSVIYq7G
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 31, 2017
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