BRIJ BHUSHAN SHARAN SINGH’S SHOW OF STRENGTH FIZZLES IN AYODHYA

Mumbai: A poor showing of supporters in Ayodhya on Sunday deflated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s intended show of strength. Reports from Uttar Pradesh said the MP was accompanied by a fraction of the five lakh supporters he had said would show up to protest the arrival of MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) chief Raj Thackeray’s supporters.

Adding insult to injury, 10 MNS sainiks also visited Ayodhya for a darshan of Lord Rama, ignoring threats from Singh’s supporters, who had earlier threatened to “drown any Marathi (Maharashtrian) who dared to visit the holy land” on June 05.

Further, Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut and Minister for Urban Development Eknath Shinde also visited Ayodhya on Sunday to finalize arrangements for the proposed visit by Maharashtra’s Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on June 15.

“Our party MP Singh’s planned show of strength on Sunday did not even record the presence of 5,000 supporters, despite his efforts to garner numbers by announcing the distribution of 51 quintal laddus as prasad to celebrate UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s birthday. The BJP leadership had been clear that it did not encourage any disruption to pilgrimages to Ayodhya--something Singh attempted to disregard,” a senior BJP leader told First India.

He added that, as previously reported by First India, the UP CM had also readied the government guesthouse for Raj Thackeray, who rescheduled his proposed June 05 visit over health reasons.

As First India has previously reported, Singh’s disregard for the party’s clear instructions has put him on the radar of both the BJP’s New Delhi leadership and UP CM Adityanath.

“Singh’s political career is now at stake. He will pay the price for disregarding the party line on pilgrimages to Ayodhya. Given that his son is a serving member of the UP state legislative assembly, the party will likely deny him a ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections citing the ‘one family, one post’ rule,” the BJP leader said.