A special train carrying Shiv Sena activists left from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus for Ayodhya ahead of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's upcoming visit to the temple town on Saturday, officials said here on Thursday.

The train departed around 2 p.m. with party activists carrying party flags, banners and raising full-throated slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram', 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai' and 'Uddhav Thackeray Zindabad.'

Thackeray is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Saturday along with several cabinet ministers, party MPs, legislators and other senior leaders to mark the completion of 100 days in power as the leader of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress.

On March 7, he will offer prayers at the Ram Temple in the afternoon followed by performing a special 'aarti' on the banks of the Sarayu river along with Shiv Sainiks.

Earlier today, Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to discuss Thackeray's visit, issues pertaining to organizational nitty-gritties, security and other related aspects, at his office in Lucknow.

The special 18-coach train has been booked for a return journey through the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), said an official.

The special train will halt at Thane, Kalyan, Igatpuri, and Bhusawal in the state besides six other stops en route to enable Shiv Sainiks board it after Raut's appeal last month asking thousands to join their leader in Ayodhya.

This will be Thackeray's first visit to Ayodhya after he was sworn in as CM on November 28, 2019.

Earlier, he made his first two-day visit to the temple town in November 2018 when two special trains had ferried Shiv Sainiks from Mumbai and Nashik.

The Shiv Sena had welcomed the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya and lauded the recent decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre to set up a trust to oversee the construction of a grand temple of Lord Ram.