Sena puts up posters in Mumbai asking people to visit Ayodhya after Thackeray announces plan

The party put up posters in Bandra and Dadar; Thackeray is expected to visit after Diwali, a move seen as an attempt to corner BJP over its poll promise of building the Ram Mandir.

A day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that he would soon visit Ayodhya and Varanasi, the Sena put up posters in Mumbai, calling people to visit the two holy cities.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. (HT File Photo)

The move is seen as an attempt to mobilise Hindu votes and take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra elections.

Posters put up by Thackeray’s aide and party secretary Milind Narvekar bear slogans of ‘Chalo Ayodhya... Chalo Varanasi’, and have been put up in Bandra and Dadar.

One of the posters put up by the Shiv Sena.

In his interview in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Thackeray said he would visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi, where he will perform the Ganga Aarti on the banks of the river. “Uddhavji has already announced that he will visit these two places. Even Balasaheb [Bal Thackeray] wanted to visit Ayodhya. Uddhavji will go to Ayodhya and Varanasi after Diwali,” said a senior Sena leader, on condition of anonymity.

The Sena chief, in the interview, had also said that he does not know when work on building the Ram Mandir would begin. The party has been critical of it ally BJP for not fulfilling its poll promise of building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya despite having a majority government at the Centre. Though it has always taken a hardline Hindutva stand, the move is seen as an attempt to corner the BJP over its poll promise.

The Sena, which has so far relied largely on the Marathi votebank, is also seen as trying to widen its reach and tap into Hindu votes.