Will take decision on Ram Temple consecration invite 'very soon': Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said he will "very soon" take a decision on whether he will attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.

Kharge and former party chief Sonia Gandhi have been invited for the event and the Congress had earlier said that their decision would be conveyed at the "right time".

Besides them, Congress' leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has also been invited for the ceremony.

"I have got the invitation. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's former principal secretary had come along with the secretary of the (temple) trust, they have invited me. I will decide on it very soon," Kharge said at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here when asked about the invite sent to him for the ceremony.

Being pressed about a Congress chief minister's remarks on the Ram Temple consecration ceremony invite, Kharge said, "It is about 'personal astha'... If there is an invite, you can go, anyone else can go."

The consecration ceremony will be held on January 22 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and more than 6,000 people are expected to attend it.