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Lucknow: Union Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand on July 20 said construction of Ram temple could start in Ayodhya before the coming Lok Sabha elections.

"I have faith and confidence that the construction of Ram temple could start much before the next Lok Sabha polls," he told reporters.

The minister declined to elaborate how the construction could start when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had refused to bring a Law regarding temple construction.

The construction of Ram temple was not on the agenda of the NDA government and, therefore, there was no compulsion on the alliance to bring a legislation in this regard, the minister said.

Swami asked Congress to clarify whether it wanted a temple at the Ram janmabhoomi in Ayodhya or not.

Congress was associated with the temple issue since 1950 while BJP included this in its agenda at its Palampur conclave in 1982, he said.

Swami said Congress took an initiative to build Somnath temple in Gujarat as it wanted to win the support of Hindus.

During the same time, deities appeared in the Babri Masjid complex, he said, adding if Congress wanted it could have removed these.

PTI