Lucknow, Nov 7 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath government will hold the next cabinet meeting in Ayodhya on Thursday, ahead of the much-publicised Deepotsav programme.

The cabinet meeting of the state government will be held at the International Katha Dham in Ayodhya.

Proposals including the formation of Uttar Pradesh Inland Waterways Authority will be approved in the meeting.

The cabinet meeting in Ayodhya is being considered important before the consecration ceremony of Ram Lala to be held in Ram temple on January 22, 2024.

Some other important proposals related to Ayodhya may also be discussed in the cabinet meeting.

The state government has informed all the cabinet ministers to be present in the cabinet meeting to be held from 11.30 a.m. on Thursday.

In 2019, a cabinet meeting had also been held in Prayagraj.

Although government officials clarified that the reason behind holding the next cabinet meeting in Ayodhya may give nod to several developmental and beautification projects in the city, but the opposition found the “clarification” less convincing, and called it a “politically driven move”.

“It is purely a politically driven move as the Yogi-led BJP government wants to keep the issue of Ram temple and Ayodhya in the limelight until the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls. This is just an attempt to keep the issue alive,” said Udaiveer Singh, senior leader of Samajwadi Party (SP).

Singh further accused the BJP of playing the ‘temple’ card.

“Be it in Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan Assembly polls, the party is playing the ‘temple card’ heavily to woo the voters. It wants to do the same tactic even in the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.