Congress delegation Ayodhya visit row: Yogi Adityanath slams party, says it is 'leaning on lies'

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday took a sharp jibe at the Congress over the alleged Ram Temple donation embezzlement row, saying that "those who used to shoot bullets at Ram bhakts are talking about devotion towards Lord Ram."Addressing a public gathering in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, Adityanath accused the Congress of refusing to believe in Lord Ram and Lord Krishna before 2017."Those who used to lathicharge people for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' are advocating for 'Ram Bhakti' today. Those who used to shoot bullets at Ram bhakts are talking about devotion towards Lord Ram today," Adityanath said."Those who used to shoot bullets at Ram bhakts are talking about devotion towards Lord Ram today. Congress, which had refused to believe in Lord Ram and Lord Krishna before 2017, is eager to visit Ayodhya today. Lord Ram knows who is right and who is wrong. They are upset over how Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath have become so beautiful. Now that they are not able to do anything, they are leaning on lies," he added.His remarks came hours after the Congress alleged that several of its leaders had been put under house arrest after the party announced that a delegation would visit Ayodhya on Tuesday amid the donation embezzlement row.UP Congress chief Ajay Rai targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party, claiming that the BJP government "got scared" and had him detained to prevent the delegation from visiting Ayodhya."The BJP government's authoritarianism has reached its peak! A delegation of the Uttar Pradesh Congress was scheduled to visit Ayodhya on June 30 to offer prayers to Lord Ram," Rai said.Meanwhile, the UP Congress also claimed that its Pratapgarh district president, Neeraj Tripathi, had been placed under house arrest by the police without any clear reason."Has it now become a crime in UP to even have darshan of Lord Shri Ram? Yesterday, that is, on June 30, a programme was proposed for the Congress delegation, under the leadership of State President Shri Ajay Rai ji, to visit Ayodhya and have darshan and worship of Lord Shri Ram. But the BJP government, scared of this journey, has started cowardly actions!" the party said in a post on X.Amid the Ram Temple donation embezzlement row, a high-level Congress delegation led by Rai was scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Tuesday.The delegation included Amethi MP Kishori Lal Sharma, Rakesh Rathor, Ujjwal Raman Singh and Tanuj Punia, according to a statement issued by the Congress.The Congress had also informed the local administration about the proposed visit.On Monday, a special court in Ayodhya remanded all eight accused arrested in the alleged Ram Temple donation theft case to 14 days of judicial custody after the investigating agency chose not to seek their custodial remand.The development came as the police continued to gather documentary, financial and witness evidence.The accused are Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava.Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the TOI App.