23 January,2020 06:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. File pic
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has decided to visit Ayodhya to seek the blessings of Lord Ram on the completion of 100 days of his government. The announcement came on the eve of an event in which his cousin Raj Thackeray is expected to proclaim himself as a harbinger of Hindutva, the ideology the Shiv Sena president had distanced himself from to forge an alliance with secular parties like the Congress.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut revealed the CM's plan and to the utter surprise of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, he also asked the Congress and NCP leaders to accompany Uddhav to Ayodhya. "Rahul Gandhi also visits temples," he told media persons. There was no immediate reaction from the Congress and NCP.
"The government has started working and it will run full five years because of Lord Rama's blessings," he added. Uddhav was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on November 28, 2019.
The Congress had stalled Uddhav's proposed visit to Ayodhya when the three parties were talking about government formation.
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The Sena president has decided to woo Hindus even as the Centre is in the process of forming trusts to build a Ram temple on the land that was in dispute for several years, and a masjid elsewhere in Ayodhya.
Another reason that seems to have prompted Uddhav to return to Sena's Hindutva roots is his estranged cousin Raj.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief plans to give his party a makeover with an emphasis on the Hindutva agenda. The party has also urged the 'disillusioned' Sena workers to join Raj, stating that the Sena has nothing left for the sainiks who built the party.
On Thursday, both parties will celebrate Sena founder Bal Thackeray's birth anniversary. Raj will address the MNS cadre in the evening while Uddhav, too, will meet the Shiv Sainiks around the same time.
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