With days nearing the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Veteran BJP leader and former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa said that the Ram Lalla idol made by sculptor Arun Yogiraj had been selected for installation at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. There has been no confirmation from the temple authorities, though.

Yediyurappa wrote in Kannada on X (formerly Twitter), “The idol of Lord Rama sculpted by sculptor Arun Yogiraj of Mysuru has been selected for installation in the magnificent Sri Rama Mandir of Ayodhya, which has doubled the pride and happiness of the entire Rama devotees of the state. Heartfelt congratulations to ‘Shilpi @yogiraj_arun’.”

And Yediyurappa’s son and state BJP chief BY Vijayendra posted. “It is the pride of Mysuru, the pride of Karnataka that the idol of Ram Lalla carved by the unparalleled sculpture Arun Yogiraj will be enshrined in Ayodhya on January 22.”

However, Yogiraj said he had not received any official communication about the idol. “I am not sure whether my work has been selected but I came to know about it only through the media, where BJP leaders spoke,” he said as reported by IndianExpress.

“I was one among three sculptors selected by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra to carve an idol of Ram Lalla. As per the committee, we were told that Ram Lalla should be a five-year-old child. I have used the Krishna Shila stone of HD Kote to create a 51-inch idol. There was no reference of Bala Rama (child Rama) and as per the committee directions, keeping the divinity aspect along with the child-like face in mind, I started my work about six to seven months ago. I used to work 12 hours a day in Ayodhya to finish it. Krishna Shila has been used in temples in Karnataka for more than 1,000 years. I used the same stone for the Adi Shankaracharya sculpture,” he said.

While his family is into sculpture, Yogiraj started assisting his father from the age of 11 years. The MBA graduate said he had worked for a few years in a private firm but he later chose to continue sculpture.