Uttar Pradesh,May 27 (NDTV): BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj, who has time and again courted controversy with his statements, on Tuesday said a Ram temple will come up in Ayodhya and that the work to give it a "grand look" will be completed "by 2019, before Lok Sabha polls".

"There was a Ram temple in Ayodhya and it will exist there in the future, too, and with a grand look.

"The work to give it a grand look will be completed by 2019, before Lok Sabha polls," Sakshi Maharaj told reporters here.

Replying to a question, the Unnao MP said that the Ram temple was not an issue concerning BJP, but saints like him.

"It's not an issue for BJP, but for us saints. During Ram temple movement, we asked all the political parties to support us, but only BJP supported us.

"As far as temple construction is concerned, there is Ramlalla there and will remain there. Now, no one would be allowed to keep a single stone in the name of Babri," he said.

The controversy-prone BJP MP had earlier this month kicked up a row when he called Rahul Gandhi "mad" in an attempt to ridicule the Congress Vice President's attempts to reach out to distressed farmers.

Sakshi Maharaj was before that at the centre of another controversy when he asked Hindu women to have at least four children. Those comments had sparked condemnation by the opposition, which alleged that the ruling party was trying to polarise the atmosphere.

BJP for its part had distanced itself from the remarks of Sakshi Maharaj and urged its workers and public representatives to refrain from making such comments.

Sakshi Maharaj had also stoked a row by describing Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse as a "patriot". He was forced to apologise in Parliament for that remark.