PM's remark annoys allies

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 20. Some of the allies and supporting parties of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government at the Centre are annoyed that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has suggested that they stay ``within limits'' and maintain ``decorum''.

In fact, Mr. Yerran Naidu, Telugu Desam Party parliamentary leader, has asked for an appointment with the Prime Minister where he intends to lodge his protest.

The allies have made it clear that it was the BJP which had gone beyond limits and decorum. In fact it was the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, himself who had needlessly raised the Ayodhya controversy after agreeing to keep all of the BJP's contentious issues in abeyance and keeping within the confines of the National Democratic Alliance agenda.

The meeting with the Prime Minister is expected to materialise tomorrow.

MPs of the Telugu Desam emphasised that their party had raised issues related to farmers, and these are not ``regional issues'' which are ``not in national interest''.

The MPs were commenting on the remarks the Prime Minister made at the BJP parliamentary party yesterday suggesting that the allies are free to raise issues of concern to them but they must keep within limits and maintain decorum. Some even went to the extent of saying that it was not the BJP's business to tell them what issues they should raise and how, for the allies had taken up issues related to the common man unlike the BJP and the Sangh Parivar which has often raised divisive issues which were certainly not in national interest.

Omar reiterates stand

PTI reports from Bangalore:

The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Omar Abdullah, today reiterated his party's (National Conference) stand on the Ayodhya issue, saying it would pull out of the NDA Government if it deviated from its agenda. As a party which represented the interests of the minorities, ``we will draw the line, when the NDA Government diverts from its agenda'', he told reporters here.

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