"They needed some excuse": Ramdas Athawale on Congress declining 'Pran Pratishtha' invite

New Delhi [India], January 11 : Hitting out at Congress for declining the invitation to the 'Pran Pratishtha' programme of Ram Mandir on January 22, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said that the grand old party is making excuses, but the public will teach them in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"There are no facts in Congress's allegations. This programme is religious. Baba Saheb Ambedkar's Constitution has given rights to all religions. This is not a BJP-RSS programme. This programme has been organised by Ram Mandir Trust. The Congress party is making excuses. They needed some excuse not to go to this programme. They do not like to see Narendra Modi's face. The public will answer this in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections," he told ANI.
Calling the Ram Temple inauguration an event of the BJP and RSS, Congress has turned down the invitation for the 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla, scheduled later this month in Ayodhya.
The senior Congress leaders--Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury--have 'declined' the invitation for the grand event in Ayodhya, the party's general secretary Jairam Ramesh, said in a statement.
"Last month, the Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha, Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, received an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya to be held on January 22nd, 2024," he said in the statement.
Further, speaking on Mahrashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision on the MLA disqualification plea in favour of the Shinde faction Shiv Sena, Athawale said that the Speaker has taken his decision after a thorough study of the matter.
"This is not Delhi's decision. Rahul Narvekar ji has a lot of practice in law. After a thorough study of Shiv Sen's constitution, how Eknath Shinde took 40 MLA and became a rebel. After fully understanding it, he has taken this decision. ECI had also given the Shiv Sena symbol to Eknath Shinde," he added.
Delivering a verdict on cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of rival group MLAs after a split in the party in June last year, Maharashtra Speaker Narwekar said on Wednesday that the "Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena."
The Speaker went into great length on the Shiv Sena constitution while delivering his crucial verdict and said, "The decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as a decision of the political party."