Clash Between Hanumangarhi Temple Mahant And Ayodhya DM In Front Of Senior BJP Leaders: Reports

A high-profile clash was witnessed in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, during the electoral loss review meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the district as per media reports.

On Thursday (20 June) night, the District Magistrate (DM) of Ayodhya, Nitish Kumar and the Mahant of Ayodhya's Hanumangarhi temple, Raju Das engaged in a war of words.

Two Cabinet Ministers of the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government, Surya Pratap Shahi and Jaiveer Singh had come to Ayodhya to review BJP's loss in the Faizabad constituency.

Raju Das had sought time from Shahi to give his feedback. When Das was criticising the UP administration in his feedback to the BJP leaders, DM Kumar was present there.

DM Kumar expressed displeasure over Mahant Das's criticisms. Kumar even refused to sit beside Das. A brawl followed after Kumar's gesture.

The gunner accompanying Das was reportedly asked to stay away. Das took a serious note of this and alleged that a conspiracy to kill him was going on.

The brawl happened at Saryu Guest House where the DM had gone to meet the Ministers. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the non-cooperation of the administration and the high-handedness of the officials.

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate and two-time Faizabad MP Lallu Singh lost to Samajwadi Party's (SP) Awadhesh Prasad by over 54,000 votes.

This was a shocker for the BJP, especially in light of the recent inauguration of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya. The party is since then exploring reasons for the loss.