Accompanied by MPs, MLAs, CM Shinde on Ayodhya tour

Mumbai, April 8

Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Saturday evening embarked on a tour of Ayodhya where he will offer prayers to Lord Ram. He was accompanied by MPs, MLAs and leaders of ally BJP. It will be Shinde’s maiden visit to Ayodhya after taking over as Maharashtra CM in June 2022.

Shinde will travel to Ayodhya from Lucknow on Sunday afternoon and perform ‘maha aarti’ at the under-construction Ram Temple and later at the Sarayu river in the evening.

He is scheduled to address a press conference in Ayodhya on Sunday afternoon and will return to Mumbai on Sunday night, his aides said. Speaking to the media at the Mumbai airport, the CM said he would respond to criticism of his Ayodhya visit through his work. “Ayodhya is a matter of faith for us. I thank PM Modi for expediting the construction of Ram Temple,” he said.

Meanwhile, NCP leader Ajit Pawar slammed the “publicity” around the CM’s Ayodhya visit and ridiculed the relentless media updates on the latter’s programme there. He said there were pressing issues related to unemployment, crime and farmers’ distress.