As the historic city of Ayodhya is decked up for the inauguration of Shri Ram Mandir on Monday, the organisers have sent invitations to several VIPs across the country, including chief ministers of various states and important political leaders.
But there is no information about whether or not YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has got the invitation from the Centre or the organisers.
One thing is certain that Jagan is not going to Ayodhya on Monday as he has lined up a series of programmes for the day. He is busy finalizing the lists of candidates for the next elections and has also official engagements, say the CMO sources.
Since Jagan has been maintaining cordial relations with the Centre and his party leaders like V Vijay Sai Reddy have made statements extending best wishes for the Ram temple inauguration, everybody thought the centre might have extended invitation to Jagan as well.
“Maybe because of his Christian faith, he did not want to go there. At the same time, Jagan also doesn’t want to give the impression that he is closer to the BJP as it would deprive him of the minority votes,” an analyst said.
On the other hand, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who has been waiting for an opportunity to get into the good books of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has used this opportunity.
Naidu, who got the invite, left for Ayodhya on Sunday, along with Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, who is already an alliance partner of the BJP. Both will have a chance to meet Modi and impress upon him.