16 June,2019 11:14 AM IST | Uttar Pradesh | mid-day online desk
Pic courtesy/Twitter/Durga Bhosle-Shinde
Ayodhya: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray reached Ayodhya on Sunday to offer prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla temple along with 18 newly-elected MPs of his party. Thackeray, who reached this morning along with his son Aditya, will first meet party MPs, who are here since Saturday evening, and then pay obeisance at the makeshift temple.
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Party leader Sanjay Raut had said on Saturday that Thackeray is fulfilling the promise he made in November that he would visit again after elections. Maharashtra will be going to polls later this year and the visit is being seen as an attempt by the Shive Sena to put pressure on ally BJP on the Ram Temple issue. But Sena has maintained that Thackeray's visit should not be seen through the electoral lens.
UP Chief Minister Adityanath visited Ayodhya last Friday to offer prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla (or infant Ram) temple. His visit, the first after the Lok Sabha election results, was apparently aimed at reiterating support for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site. The title suit over the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site is being heard by the Supreme Court.
The long-awaited Maharashtra Cabinet expansion is all set to happen on Sunday. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray late Friday night to discuss the plan. Fadnavis confirmed to mid-day that the ministers to be dropped and new members to be inducted from BJP would be approved by the party's high command when he visits them in New Delhi on Saturday.
The swearing-in is expected to be held on Sunday, a day before the monsoon session of the state legislature begins. Fadnavis didn't reveal the name he plans planned to induct or dropped. He didn't confirm who would be Sena's representative(s), or whether the Sena would be given Deputy CM's post. However, sources in BJP said that the party has taken resignations of three ministers of state, including two from Vidarbha and one from Mumbai.
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