Land for Ayodhya temple provided by ex-PM P V Narasimha Rao, says Congress MLA

A Congress MLA in Karnataka on Wednesday said that the land for construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was provided by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.K M Shivalinge Gowda, who represents Arsikere constituency, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for building the Ram Temple but sought to claim credit for his party as well.The Prime Minister has built a big Sri Ram Temple in Ayodhya for which I thank him.

A Congress MLA in Karnataka on Wednesday said that the land for construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was provided by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

K M Shivalinge Gowda, who represents Arsikere constituency, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for building the Ram Temple but sought to claim credit for his party as well.

“The Prime Minister has built a big Sri Ram Temple (in Ayodhya) for which I thank him. We don’t have any differences of opinion with Prime Minister who built the Sri Ram Temple. I chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and I pay obeisance to all gods. Rama has not been given on contract to the BJP. We are also devotees of Sri Ram,” the Congress MLA said.

“It was former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao who provided the land (for Ram Temple in Ayodhya),'' he further said, without explaining what he meant.

The Babri mosque, replacing which the temple has been built, was demolished on December 6, 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao headed the Congress government at the Centre. Recently, the BJP government conferred on Rao the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

BJP members such as Bharath Shetty objected to Gowda's statement saying that the Congress has zero contribution in the construction of the Ram temple. They also sought to know whether it was his view or his party’s views on Lord Ram and also wanted to know the Congress party’s stand on Kashi and Mathura.