Maharashtra cabinet members to visit Ayodhya Ram temple in February first week

Mumbai: Members of the Maharashtra cabinet will visit Ayodhya to offer prayers at the newly-inaugurated Ram temple in the first week of February, an official said on Wednesday.

The visit is likely to happen on February 5, he said.

There are 29 members in the council of ministers in Maharashtra, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

A new idol of Ram Lalla was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, a landmark event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The gates of the sprawling temple were opened to the public a day after the consecration ceremony.

On the eve of the idol 'pran pratishtha' ceremony, CM Shinde on Sunday said he plans to take his cabinet colleagues as well as MLAs and Lok Sabha MPs from the state for 'darshan' to the Ayodhya Ram temple, and hence was not attending the consecration ceremony on January 22.

Fadnavis, too, had told reporters that he would visit Ayodhya in February for "Ram seva".