Bengaluru, Feb 14: A Congress MLA in Karnataka on Wednesday said that the land for construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya was provided by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

K M Shivalinge Gowda, who represents Arsikere constituency, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for building the Ram Temple but sought to claim credit for his party as well.

"The Prime Minister has built a big Sri Ram Temple (in Ayodhya) for which I thank him. We don't have any differences of opinion with Prime Minister who built the Sri Ram Temple. I chant Jai Sri Ram' and I pay obeisance to all gods. Rama has not been given on contract to the BJP. We are also devotees of Sri Ram," the Congress MLA said.

"It was former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao who provided the land (for Ram Temple in Ayodhya)," he further said, without explaining what he meant.

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The Babri mosque, replacing which the temple has been built, was demolished on December 6, 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao headed the Congress government at the Centre. Recently, the BJP government conferred on Rao the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

BJP members such as Bharath Shetty objected to Gowda's statement saying that the Congress has zero contribution in the construction of the Ram temple.

They also sought to know whether it was his view or his party's views on Lord Ram and also wanted to know the Congress party's stand on Kashi and Mathura.

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Davangere: The Congress candidate is leading in the Davangere South Assembly by-election after the completion of the 14th round of counting.

According to the latest figures, the Congress has secured 46,460 votes, while the BJP stands at 39,037 votes, trailing by 7,423 votes.

The SDPI candidate has polled 15,303 votes so far.

Counting is still underway, and final results are awaited.