Gorkahpur: VHP leader Ashok Singhal today raked up the issue of construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya at a function here organised to commemorate former BJP MP Mahant Avaidyanath, one of the leading lights of the temple movement, and said it should be constructed at the earliest.
However, BJP president Amit Shah, who was also present at the occasion, refused to comment on the matter.
“Shradhanjali sabha” was organised here today in the memory of former chief priest of Gorakhnath Temple, Mahant Avaidhyanath.
Paying tribute to Avaidyanath, Singhal said, “as per the wishes of Mahantji the temple should be constructed at the earliest.”
But the BJP president sidestepped reporters' queries pertaining the matter.
Shah said, “Avaidyanathji was the soul of nationalist ideology.”
He also evaded question on the ongoing deadlock between BJP and Shiv Sena over seat sharing in Maharashtra and said that today he had come only to pay tribute to Avaidyanathji.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also attended the function and termed Avaidyanath as a great social reformer whose contribution to remove social evils would be remembered forever.