BJP national vice president D K Aruna today sought an explanation from Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on the issue of the much-hyped Ram mandir being built in Ayodhya.
Claiming that the CM seemed to have a problem with the construction of the temple, she asked the latter to clarify his stand on the same.
"It seems that the CM does not like the fact that the works for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya have been initiated. The statements of the leaders of the TRS are proof enough of this. However, the BJP will not respond to such provocation, and will, instead, continue to focus on working for the people of the state and the nation," the leader said.
Speaking further on the matter, Aruna said that Ayodhya was a place of historic importance, and that the Centre was committed to the development of the Ram mandir in the city.
She then spoke about the recently released Union Budget for 2021-22, and opined that the fact that this year's budget was the third consecutive one presented by a woman, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, was a matter of pride for the rest of the women of the country.
The BJP bigwig also claimed that the budget was one that had been formulated keeping in mind the needs of every section of society.
The Ram mandir issue has been a contentious one for decades now. The temple is being constructed on a piece of land where Ayodhya's Babri Masjid once stood.
(The masjid was unlawfully demolished by the 'kar sevaks' dedicated to the cause of the temple in 1992. They believed that the mosque stood on the birthplace of the Hindu deity Rama, and wanted to "reclaim" the land to build a temple in honour of the god.)
To the leaders of the BJP, the temple's construction is a matter of personal pride. When the Supreme Court verdict on the Babri demolition, that acquitted all those reportedly involved in the unlawful siege of the masjid, was announced in 2019, therefore, the saffron party's leaders, including D K Aruna herself, had
welcomed the verdict wholeheartedly.
MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, on the other hand, had expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the SC's verdict on the Ayodhya suit.