Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said his party had laid the foundation for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and that the credit for the temple construction does not go to any one party.
BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said a grand Ram temple would come up in Ayodhya within four months as per the wishes of Indians all over the world.
Replying to a query on the BJP president’s statement outside the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhawan here, Mr. Raut told reporters, “Amit Shah has said it right that the Ram temple will surely will be seen touching the sky. But, the foundation work for the temple has been done by the Shiv Sena.”
Asked further that if this means the credit for the Ram temple goes to the BJP, the Rajya Sabha member said, “No, the credit goes to lakhs and crores of karsevaks, including the VHP, sadhus, saints, BJP workers, the credit goes to all, not just one party.”
Earlier in the morning, the BJP MLAs entered the State Assembly here with flexboards carrying a report published earlier in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ , demanding ₹25,000 per hectare aid to farmers hit by untimely rains.
To a query on this, Mr. Raut said, “They now intend to read ‘Saamana’, but when in power, the then Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) used to repeatedly say that he does not read the Marathi publication.”
“If while in power they had read ‘Saamana’, then they might have been able to retain power,” he said in a sarcastic remark.
