Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is visiting Kerala, on Monday defended his government's decision to celebrate the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, saying "ultimately we all are Hindus".

He was talking to reporters after arriving in the state capital of Kerala to attend the Ramachandran Foundation award ceremony.

"See, ultimately we all are Hindus," Shivakumar said in response to reporters' query on the Congress-ruled Karnataka government celebrating the consecration ceremony in temples across the state.

On being asked by reporters why the Congress High Command had not decided to take part in the ceremony at Ayodhya, he said that the BJP-ruled Centre was adopting a pick-and-choose method in deciding who should be at the event.

In an apparent reference to the Ram Temple, Shivakumar also said that it is not a private property.

"They (BJP) are picking and choosing leaders. There are so many leaders and chief ministers in the country. It is not a private property. It is public property. Every religion and symbol does not belong to any individual," the Karnataka Deputy CM said.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi and the party's leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have received invitations for the consecration ceremony.

Shivakumar further said, "We respect the sentiments of all the people," adding that his government has departments for the minorities, SC/STs, OBCs and Hindu religion.

The Supreme Court had in a historic verdict in 2019 backed the construction of the Ram temple by a government trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the town considered holy by Hindus.

As a result, Ayodhya is getting decked up for the 'pran pratishtha' at the grand Ram temple being built there, which will take place on January 22 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Ram temple complex, built in the traditional Nagara style, will be 380 feet in length (east-west direction), 250 feet in width and 161 feet in height.

Each floor of the temple will be 20 feet high and have a total of 392 pillars and 44 gates.

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