Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his family on Saturday arrived in Ayodhya for a two-day visit, to seek the darshan of Lord Ram.
Thackeray is scheduled to visit the makeshift Ram Temple at 9 am on Sunday.
Thackeray will offer prayers at the Ram janmabhoomi, participate in the aarti by the Sarayu river and speak to seers and saints. He is carrying soil from the Shivneri fort in Pune, the birthplace of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, which will be handed over to the priest at the janmabhoomi.
He is expected to attend several events, batting for the early construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Sunday’s event, being organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), is the bigger of the two events. It is being called “Dharma Sansad”. It is expected to be the largest gathering in the town since 1992, when thousands of Kar Sevaks had razed the Babri Masjid.
The Shiv Sena and the VHP are organising separate events in Ayodhya over the next 48 hours
In a bid to tackle the situation and avoid any untoward incident, security forces have been deployed in Ayodhya, located 120 km from state capital, Lucknow.
Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha lawmaker Sanjay Raut on Friday had created a flutter by saying when Babri Masjid could be demolished in 17 minutes, why it was taking so long for a law to build a temple there. “We demolished the Babri Masjid in 17 minutes but for paper work why it is taking so much time for drafting a law or ordinance,” Raut had told reporters.
Reports said that over 2,000 Shiv Sena supporters are coming to Ayodhya in two trains from Maharashtra.
