Ambani, Bachchan's in Ayodhya VIP list

New Delhi /Ayodhya: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan are among those who feature on a select state guest list of invitees to the consecration of the Ram temple on January 22. While about 8,000 people are on the long list of invitees, the select list features just a few hundred people, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, bureaucrats and diplomats.

Among the who's who of the country, invitations from the Uttar Pradesh government have also been given to the five judges, including Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, who was part of the bench that brought a closure to the vexed dispute in Ayodhya and cleared the path for the construction of the Ram Temple there.

Besides the CJI, former Chief Justices of India Ranjan Gogoi and S.A. Bobde, and former Judges Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer were part of the bench that delivered the historic verdict on November 9, 2019.

The Uttar Pradesh government's list of invitees also includes over 50 jurists, including former Chief Justices, judges and top lawyers, as well as K. Parasaran, the counsel for "Ram Lalla".

The invitation has also been extended to solicitor-general Tushar Mehta and former attorney-general K.K. Venugopal.

The invitations have been sent by the special secretary protocol of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

According to the list, which PTI has accessed, Mr Bachchan will fly into Ayodhya in a private chartered plane for the opening of the 161-foot-tall pink sandstone shrine.

From the film industry, the list features actors Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Anupam Kher and Chiranjeevi. Besides, sarod maestro Amjad Ali, lyricist and poet Manoj Muntashir and his wife, lyricist and writer Prasoon Joshi and directors Sanjay Bhansali and Chandraprakash Dwivedi are invited too.

Mr Ambani, along with his mother Kokilaben, wife Neeta, sons Akash and Anant, daughter-in-law Shloka and would-be-daughter-in-law Radhika Merchant, are also on the list of invitees.

Other prominent industrialists invited include Aditya Birla Group chairperson Kumar Mangalam Birla and his wife Nirja; Piramal Group chairperson Ajay Piramal; Mahindra and Mahindra's Anand Mahindra and DCM Shriram's Ajay Shriram and TCS CEO K. Krithivasan.

K. Satish Reddy of Dr Reddy's Pharmaceuticals, Zee Entertainment Enterprises CEO Punit Goenka, L&T chairman and managing director S.N. Subrahmanyan and his wife, Durali Divi of Divis Laboratories, Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, Jindal Steel & Power head Naveen Jindal and Naresh Trehan of Medanta Group are there as well.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are also on the list.

India's G-20 sherpa Amitabh Kant, former diplomat Amar Sinha, former attorney-generals K.K. Venugopal and Mukul Rohtagi and Indian women's cricket captain Mitali Raj are among those on the list.

While some on the list are flying in private jets on January 22, others are taking regular flights to reach a day earlier and staying overnight either in Ayodhya or nearby cities like Lucknow.