Maya won't be attending Ram Temple consecration ceremony

Lucknow: After Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, BSP supremo Mayawati has also refused the invitation to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya on January 22, according to the sources.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders said that Mayawati was invited to attend the consecration ceremony. ''She accepted the invitation but she will not be attending the ceremony,'' a senior VHP leader said in Ayodhya.

There was no public statement from Mayawati in this regard.

The VHP leader, when queried about Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav's reported remarks that he had not received invitation to attend the ceremony, said that an invite had been sent to Akhilesh by courier. ''We can send the invite again,'' he added.

Earlier reports said that a VHP functionary had approached him with the invitation to attend the ceremony but Akhilesh did not 'accept' the invitation saying that he did not know the person (VHP functionary).

''We do not accept invitations from those whom we do not know,'' Akhilesh was quoted as having told the VHP functionary.

Akhilesh had earlier said that he would attend the ceremony if invited by Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Khestra Teerth Trust, which was overseeing construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

Akhilesh's wife and SP MP from Mainpuri Dimple Yadav had earlier said that she would be visiting Ayodhya for a darshan at the Ram Temple after January 22.

The VHP leader said that President Droupadi Murmu and vice-president Jagdeep Dhankar would not be attending the ceremony and that both of them would visit Ayodhya on a later date to pay obeisance at the Ram Temple.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Khestra Trust, which was overseeing the construction of the Ram Temple, has extended invitations to top industrialists of the country, Bollywood personalities, scientists and others, including mega star Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader.