National

`Religious heads must not play a role in politics'
By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 8. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is opposed to religious heads playing a political role, the Andhra Pradesh Home Minister and TDP politburo member, T. Devender Goud, said today.

Inaugurating a training programme for party functionaries at the NTR Bhavan, he said that `mullahs' and `sadhus' should not be allowed to occupy the centre stage in politics.

He said that his party was concerned about the developments in the Ayodhya issue but that it would not take any hasty decison. The party had always taken a clear and unambiguous stand on contentious issues and would ponder over the developments before taking an appropriate stand. He said the TDP's support to the NDA Government was only to keep the Congress at bay. But party did not favour mixing religion and politics. It strongly believed that religious issues should not form the agenda of political parties. The BJP should learn a lesson from the recent election results, and religion should be treated purely as a private affair.

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