Uddhav Thackeray offers prayers to Ram Lalla in Ayodhya along with party MPs

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray offered prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday along with 18 newly-elected MPs of his party.

Thackeray reached here this morning along with his son Aditya and met party MPs who are in the town since Saturday evening. He then paid obeisance at the makeshift temple.

He is scheduled to address a press conference later in the day and will then leave for Mumbai.

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.

Party leader Sanjay Raut had said on Saturday that Thackeray is fulfilling the promise he made in November that he would visit the temple again after elections.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Ayodhya a week back to offer prayers at the makeshift Ram Lalla (or infant Ram) temple. His visit, the first after the Lok Sabha election results were declared, 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.