PM Narendra Modi offers prayers at Ram temple in Ayodhya, holds roadshow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday offered prayers at the Ram temple in Ayodhya and embarked on a road show, accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, across the temple town.

It was his first visit to Ayodhya after the ‘pran pratishtha’ of the idol at the temple on January 22.

Modi’s Ayodhya visit coincided with the conclusion of the campaigning for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, in which polling for 93 seats will be held on Tuesday.


 

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister (PM) addressed public meetings in Etawah and Dhaurahra in Uttar Pradesh. In Dhaurahra, he said Muslims now understand that the Congress and Opposition INDIA bloc are using them as pawns.

"Muslim brothers and sisters are seeing that (houses under) PM Awas Yojana were given to all the needy. Be it water connection or gas cylinders under Ujjwala Yojana, every government benefit was given to all...they (Muslims) are also getting benefits of all schemes without discrimination," Modi said.

 

At his public rally in Etawah, a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party and its first family, he recounted that the late Mulayam Singh Yadav had blessed him months before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"The Parliament session was going on. It was the last session of Parliament before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Mulayam Singh ji stood up to make a speech and said 'you are going to win again'. It became a kind of a blessing."

Alluding to the recent gaffe by Shivpal Singh Yadav, Mulayam’s Singh’s younger brother, urging people to ensure the BJP’s victory, the PM said: "Now Netaji is not among us but see the coincidence, his own brother is appealing to make BJP win. The words in his heart came to his tongue."

The PM campaigned for party candidates from Mainpuri, Kannauj and Etawah.

Mainpur will go to polls on May 7, polling in Kannauj and Etawah will be held on May 13. Polling in Faizabad, the seat in which Ayodhya falls, is scheduled on May 20.