Former Karnataka minister and Congress leader Holalkere Anjaneya on Monday compared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to Lord Ram and said there was no need to go to Ayodhya to worship “BJP’s Ram”.
“Siddaramaiah himself is Ram. Then why go and worship that Ram in (Ayodhya) temple? That is BJP’s Ram. BJP does this for publicity. Let them do,” Anjaneya said when asked why Siddaramaiah was not invited to attend the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22.
Speaking to reporters in Chitradurga, the former minister said: “Our Ram is inside our heart. My name is Anjaneya, you know what he did?”
Anjaneya is another name for Lord Hanuman, who is the devoted companion of Lord Ram in the epic Ramayan.
Last week, Siddaramaiah said he did not get the invitation for the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. “Till today, I have not received an invitation. If an invitation comes, I will look into it,” Siddaramaiah was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, and the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple on January 22.
When asked whether the party leaders would attend the ceremony, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal told a press conference last month, “You will know about the party’s stand. You will know on January 22 about the participation. They have invited us, we are very much thankful to them for inviting us, let us (see).”
Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda have also received invitations for the function.
