India, Nov. 7 -- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav was welcome to visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya but should first apologise to devotees of Lord Ram.

His remarks came after the Samajwadi Party announced that Akhilesh Yadav and his wife, Dimple Yadav, would visit the temple on December 12.

The proposed visit would mark Akhilesh's first trip to the shrine, which was built following decades of legal proceedings over the disputed site where the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992.

Speaking at the 10th edition of Ayodhya's Deepotsav, an annual celebration marked by the lighting of thousands of earthen lamps, Adityanath made a pointed reference to the police firing on ...