Lucknow: The Shiv Sena is up in arms against the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for holding its rally in Ayodhya on the same date as the Shiv Sena.

The VHP has announced a rally in Ayodhya on November 25 which is also the date when Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be visiting the holy town and will address a rally.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who visited Ayodhya on Monday, said that the Shiv Sena had announced its Ayodhya plan in October on Dusshera while the VHP chose the same date later.

“Our programme was declared much before the VHP came up with its programme. The VHP should know that the temple will not be constructed by collecting crowds, ” the Shiv Sena MP said.

The Shiv Sena chief will be visiting Ayodhya for the first party and special trains from Maharashtra will bring Shiv Sainiks for his meeting.

The Shiv Sena, apparently, wants to make its presence felt in Uttar Pradesh and win over those disgruntled Hindus who are upset with the BJP. The Sena plans to contest Lok Sabha elections from select seats in Uttar Pradesh too.

The Shiv Sena will also make its stand clear on the Ram temple issue. “We will demand that legislation should be brought in for the construction of Ram temple. There is no use in indulging in rhetoric and misleading the people on this issue.

VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma, meanwhile, said that the proposed Dharam Sabha on November 25 had been decided by the high powered committee of the VHP last month and the programme had nothing to do with the Shiv Sena programme.

The VHP has already started preparing for the event to which ‘all Ram bhakts’ are invited.

A local VHP leader said that the crowds at the VHP event would give the ‘much-needed snub’ to the Shiv Sena which is ‘unnecessarily trying to meddle in Ayodhya politics’.

The local BJP workers are supporting the VHP programme and feign ignorance about the Shiv Sena programme. “The Shiv Sena has nothing to do with UP. They should restrict themselves to Maharashtra. The VHP has been fighting for decades for the Ram temple,” said a local party worker.

Meanwhile Shiv Sena sources said that Mr Uddhav Thackeray would now arrive in Ayodhya on November 24 and would honor 100 saints at a programme at Laxman Tila.