Congress' absence from Ram temple event put party leaders in spot: Chouhan

BJP veteran Shivraj Singh Chouhan has claimed the "wrong" decision of Congress to not attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya has put party leaders in a spot as they cannot give a convincing reply to the common people.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Chouhan was speaking on Sunday at a gathering in Vidisha where several Congress workers joined the BJP ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"After the Congress refused to participate in the consecration ceremony, several friends from the opposition party told me that they are finding it hard to give a reply to people. Such wrong decisions can't give the right direction to the country," said Chouhan, who is the BJP candidate from the Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency in MP.

The former CM said his father was in the Congress, but the party has undergone a sea change from the old days.

"There was only Congress at that time. But today's Congress is not that one. This is not the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi or even that of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi," he said.

The Congress disrespected the sentiments of people by not attending the Ram temple consecration ceremony, Chouhan said.

"The temple came up in Ayodhya after court orders. The Congress too was invited for the consecration ceremony. Should the Congress go there or not? Who is making these decisions in that party and with what intention? They were invited with dignity but they refused...they are disrespecting people's sentiments," he said.

In a dig, Chouhan wondered who is the advisor of the Congress.

Former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, who joined the BJP last month, also addressed the gathering.

A BJP spokesman claimed that around 1,500 Congress workers joined the saffron party on the occasion. Former Congress MLA from Vidisha, Shashank Bhargava, joined the BJP about a week back.