Pathanamthitta (Kerala) |Amidst indecision within the party over the invitation extended to its top leaders to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Congress on Friday criticised the BJP, alleging that the saffron party was turning the religious event into a party programme.
AICC General Secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal said that senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, have been invited to the Ram Temple consecration ceremony, and added that they would decide at an "appropriate time" whether to attend it.
Talking to reporters, Venugopal said the senior leaders have received a personal invitation for the January 22 function.
"They will take a stand on their own. It's not a matter in which we have to express our opinion in public. They will take a stand when the time comes," Venugopal said.
He noted that the Congress party has a clear-cut stand on such matters, and it functions accordingly.
"We will express our stand after discussing in our party forums and take a decision," he added.
Venugopal criticised the BJP government, questioning "whether it was right to turn such an event into a function of a party or a government".
His reaction came amid increasing uncertainty within the Congress regarding the political stance on the invitation for its national leadership to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple.
Besides Gandhi and Kharge, the party's leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has also been invited.
The CPI(M) has already declared that its representatives will not attend the ceremony, calling it a political move by the BJP ahead of the general elections that are to be held in a few months.
The Ram Temple in Ayodhya is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 22. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and more than 6,000 people are expected to attend the grand 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony
