Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has said that Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya will be built when the Congress is voted to power at the Centre, the Hindustan Times reported on Friday.

“The Congress will build the [Ram] temple based on the decision of the Supreme Court,” Rawat told reporters in Pauri Garhwal district on Thursday. “The BJP will fail to construct the temple because they are paapi [sinners]...Those who have no regard for ethics and dignity cannot be devotees of Maryada Purushottam Lord Ram.”

Rawat added that the Congress has established dignity and respect for the Constitution, PTI reported.

Party colleague and Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Indira Hridayesh criticised Rawat. “If it is so, then the Congress could have built a Ram temple when it was in power for 10 years,” the Hindustan Times quoted Hridayesh as saying. “All, including Muslims, are in support of constructing a Ram temple. But one should not make a claim which cannot be fulfilled as we are not in power.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit chief Ajay Bhatt said the Congress leader’s claim was a ploy to mislead people. “Their claim is a farce because the biggest obstruction in the construction of Ram Temple is the Congress party itself,” he added.

Rawat later clarified that he had said an “environment of constructing Ram Mandir” would be created in the country if the Congress came to power.

Karnataka political turmoil

Meanwhile, Rawat also accused the BJP of trying to topple the government in Karnataka. “The BJP is out to dislodge rival parties from power by hook or by crook, by misusing money, muscle power and institutions like the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and the Income Tax Department as political tools,” PTI quoted him as saying.

Rawat said the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition would win all 27 seats in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections. “The game that the BJP is playing in Karnataka will cost it dearly in the Lok Sabha elections when people will give it a befitting reply...” he added.

The Karnataka Congress on Friday moved its legislators to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru as a “preemptive measure” to quash the BJP’s attempts to poach its legislators, Congress leader Siddaramaiah said.