The Congress unit in Kerala is caught in a piquant situation on whether its leaders should attend the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration on January 22 amid rising discontent from its own leaders and allies.

While the state leadership left the decision to the party high command, two former state presidents came up with diametrically opposing views, even as Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor opined that it was up to individuals to take a call.

“It’s not the KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) that will decide on this. It will be decided there (AICC),” state party president K. Sudhakaran told reporters on Thursday.

The Ram temple trust has invited AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

“We will give our views when asked for (by the AICC). This is not something that we should tell the media,” Sudhakaran said when asked about the state unit’s position.

Lok Sabha member and former state president K. Muraleedharan told reporters on Thursday that the “Kerala unit has informed K.C. Venugopal (AICC general secretary) that Congress leaders should not participate” in the consecration.

When his attention was drawn to the statement of Muraleedharan, Sudhakaran shot back: “You should ask Murali about that.”

The state chief also dismissed a question on concerns raised by Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulama, an influential Sunni clerics body.

In an editorial on Wednesday, Samastha mouthpiece Suprabhatham had taken a swipe at the Congress, citing how the CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury decided not to attend the consecration.

“I don’t want to listen to any of that,” Sudhakaran said.

Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor said it was an individual's choice. “Going to a temple is an individual decision. Individuals have been invited, let them make their decision,” he told reporters on Thursday.