Uddhav Thackeray to visit Ayodhya soon as Shiv Sena prepares poll pitch for north India ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is likely to visit Ayodhya ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Uddhav may also hold a rally in the city as a poll pitch in the Hindi heartland, CNN-News18 reported. [caption id=“attachment_4707301” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] Uddhav reportedly met the chief of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust Janmejay Sharanji Maharaj on Sunday, who invited him to visit Ayodhya. Maharaj is said to have told Uddhav that the trust needed the Sena’s assistance in the reconstruction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The Shiv Sena has been persistently demanding that the Narendra Modi government immediately begin construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Hence, Uddhav’s visit is being seen as Sena’s attempts milk on the Hindutva agenda surrounding the impending Ram Mandir construction. According to The Times of India report, Uddhav will visit Ayodhya after the Sena’s annual Dussehra rally in Mumbai. “The date will be announced soon,” he said. Earlier, Uddhav had also accepted West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Mamata Banerjee’s invite to participate in her mega rally in Kolkata in January 2019. Mamata had extended an invite to him for the rally during her meeting with Sena’s parliamentary party leader Sanjay Raut at the TMC office in Delhi in August.