UP: LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi unlikely to attend Ram temple ‘bhoomi pujan’

LUCKNOW: BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are unlikely to attend the Ram temple ‘bhoomi pujan’ in Ayodhya. There is also no industrialist or high-profile NRI guest, as reported by a section of media, on the list of invitees for the programme to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The guest lis is very limited and there is no programme of former deputy PM LK Advani or former HRD minister MM Joshi -- the two leading lights of the temple movement -- to visit Ayodhya on August 5, sources told TOI.
Apart from the PM and CM Yogi, other dignitaries on the dais would be RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, VHP vicepresident and temple trust general secretary Champat Rai and Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas head Mahant Nritya Gopal Das.
CM to gift Ram’s wooden statue to PM
The bhoomi pujan programme that would be aired live, would conclude with the address of the PM.
The prime minister will land in Lucknow by his IAF special plane and take off from the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport for Ayodhya by an IAF MI 7 chopper.
He is likely to offer prayer at Hanuman Garhi temple before visiting bhoomi pujan site. He will then plant the Parijat sapling and perform the 'bhoomi pujan' at 11.40 am. The Prime Minister then would take the stage where he would release the postal stamp on the life of Lord Ram, according to highly placed sources.
The CM would accompany the PM after receiving him in Lucknow and would give him a wooden statue of Lord Ram after the latter's speech to conclude.
The temple town has been fortified before the Dday amid intelligence reports about the threat of terror attack on the function. Additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Awashi supervised the preparations for the Prime Minister's visit on Friday.
Being a member of the temple trust, he has been camping in Ayodhya to oversee the preparations.