Lucknow, Jan 14 (IANS): With the Congress announcing its absence from the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the UP Congress has now decided to ‘expand’ the scale of its visit to the holy city on Monday.

The party had earlier announced that UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey and UPCC president Ajay Rai would lead a group of about 100 party workers to Ayodhya and offer prayers.

The party has now stated that over 2,000 Congress leaders and workers would go to Ayodhya on January 15 which happens to be Makar Sankranti.

The leaders, including Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pandey, state president Ajay Rai, Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari, UP Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’, former state president and ex-MP from Faizabad Nirmal Khatri, former National Scheduled Caste Commission chairman P.L. Punia and many other senior leaders will be a part of the delegation.

When asked if the UPCC had invited leaders and workers to participate, the party spokesman said, “We have not invited anyone. It is voluntary. But word has spread in all the district units and many have said that they will join. Apart from 2,000 from Lucknow, several are expected to join from the districts around Ayodhya”.

According to sources, the idea behind the visit is to make Congress presence visible in Ayodhya, ahead of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

A senior leader said, “We do not want to be seen as being anti-Hindu. We all have tremendous faith in Lord Ram but we will not join a BJP-sponsored event. Hence, we are going before the Pran Pratishtha event and other leaders will go after the event to offer prayers.”

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Ayodhya administration said that a decision regarding permission for 2,000 odd Congress workers in Ayodhya was yet to be given.

“We will discuss the matter and then take a decision because hectic preparations are underway for the main event on January 22 and we cannot allow anything to jeopardise it,” the official said.