Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday declared that people were hopeful that a grand Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya and "Lord Ram will decide its date".
"A grand Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya. The people are very hopeful. Ramji will decide its date. But it will be built definitely," Adityanath said at an event in Lucknow organised by a media house.
Adityanath ridiculed attempts by opposition parties to form an anti-BJP front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “The opposition is worried that the BJP is going from strength to strength. They are opposed to development and have been ganging up to join hands with the only aim to take on the saffron party," Adityanath noted.
Adityanath sought to poke fun at the opposition parties, saying they were not clear as to who will lead the alliance. "They cannot project any leader who can head the alliance," he said.
The BJP will fight the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 on the plank of development, Adityanath said and exuded confidence the party will retain power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The BJP will again come to power at the Centre and under the able leadership of the prime minister, we will put up a grand show in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," Adityanath said.
He was responding to a specific question about whether the BJP would repeat its performance in 2014 when it bagged 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh along with its alliance partners.
Adityanath declared that the BJP does not believe in playing the caste card for the sake of votes and it would go to the polls on the development plank.
"The BJP does not play caste card," he said. "We believe in development and welfare of the people without any discrimination," he said.
On the issue of police encounter cases in Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath said the authorities are trying their best to instil confidence in the minds of the people that lawbreakers would not be allowed to go scot-free.
"At the same time, we have warned the police that there should not be any fake encounters. If they misuse power, action will be taken against them," Adityanath said.
Adityanath, who assumed power last year after the BJP scored a landslide victory in the 2017 Assembly polls, slammed the previous Samajwadi Party dispensation, saying, "People voted against the SP as they came to realise the misdeeds of the Akhilesh Yadav government."
However, state Congress chief Raj Babbar, who was the next guest at the meet, refuted Adityanath's remarks on opposition unity.
"The unity among the opposition parties is to save the country from the BJP's misrule," he said.
Babbar said that the unity efforts were in the context of Uttar Pradesh, which sends the highest number of MPs, 80, to the Lok Sabha.
"This is Lok Sabha election and national leaders will take a call," he said.
The actor-turned-politician said the efforts to strike unity among non-BJP parties were not directed against any individual. "The sole purpose is to save the country from the BJP's misrule," Babbar said.
To a specific question as to who will head the alliance, Babbar said the issue will crop up at a later stage.
"The issue will be decided at a later stage. It is for the people to decide, the country will decide...," Babbar said.
"But, one thing is for certain that if the Congress heads the alliance, it will be our party chief Rahul Gandhi who will head it," Babbar added.