Patna: Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has declined the invitatiion to attend the pran-pratishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for January 22. The Ram Janmbhoomi Trust had invited Opposition leaders for the ceremony while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the main ‘yajman’ at the event. 

"I will not go to Ayodhya to attend the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony of the Ram Temple," said Lalu Yadav, however, he has not cited any specific reason for not attending the event.

Earlier in the day, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar has also turned down the invitation to the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya and said that he will visit for darshan after the event and once the construction is complete.

"I'm very happy on receiving the invitation for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony to held in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024," Pawar stated in his letter addressed to General Secretary of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Champat Rai. 

Several other leaders of the opposition, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, have turned down the invitation. The Congress party had called the pran-pratishtha ceremony as an RSS-BJP event.