Ranchi, Jul 20 (IANS): Jharkhand's Congress legislator Pradeep Yadav has appealed to party leader Rahul Gandhi to lead the fund collection drive for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

"If a particular political party will lead the Ram temple construction, it will try to derive political mileage. My request will strengthen the unity and secular fabric of the country. It will also not let any particular party impose its will on the temple construction," Yadav said in his letter to Rahul Gandhi.

Yadav won the 2019 Assembly seat on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) ticket. After the JVM-P merged with BJP, he preferred to join the Congress. Yadav had joined JVM-P in 2006 after leaving the BJP.

Copies of the letter have been sent to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Chief Minister Hemant Soren, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, BSP President Mayawati, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and other Chief Ministers as well.

Yadav said that his stand was not based on his earlier association with the BJP. "If all parties do not contribute to the temple construction, a message of strong and secular credentials of India will not go out to the world," the lawmaker argued.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ayodhya on August 5 for the 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony of the proposed temple there on the invitation of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, which will oversee the construction of the temple.