Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002
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NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. The sharp divisions within the Bharatiya Janata Party on the Ayodhya issue, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's aggressive demands on the Ram temple and its attack on the Orissa Assembly were out in the open at its Parliamentary Party meeting today. After some MPs expressed their views - some virtually approving and applauding the VHP and the others saying that its behaviour had caused the party considerable embarrassment - the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, said this issue as well as the fallout of the reverses in the recent Assembly elections needed to be discussed at length, not in passing and in a piecemeal manner. He wanted the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, to fix a suitable date for a full-length discussion of issues worrying the MPs. It seems the question on the party's mind is whether to stay with the NDA and jettison Hindutva or jettison the NDA and go back to Hindutva. The Parliamentary Party could discuss it provided a suitable date was available but, as of now, it seems that the discussion will take place at the party's national executive committee meeting in Goa from April 12. Even before Mr. Vajpayee arrived at the meeting, several MPs indicated that they would like to be given an opportunity to speak. Among them was B.P. Singhal. But when his name was called out, he said he would prefer to speak in the Prime Minister's presence. Once Mr. Vajpayee arrived, Mr. Singhal expressed anguish that the BJP had gone back on the Ram temple issue, adding that he could not stomach the treatment meted out to the VHP which, after all, had only espoused the cause that was also on the party's agenda. But he was countered by Lal Muni Chaubey, who pointed out that there was no use raking up the issue again and again when the party had agreed to put it on the backburner along with some others. Mr. Vajpayee made it clear that his Government was ``not sticking to power''. In fact, there was no other alternative, and the Government could not run away from its responsibilities. The Home Minister, L.K. Advani, reportedly expressed ``satisfaction'' over the manner in which the VHP's demands and its agitation was handled after the Supreme Court's order. Several other issues were raised - increased postal rates for books (Mr. Mahajan promised to look into this) and the tax burden on the middle class (it was decided that party MPs would meet the Finance Minister before the Finance Bill was voted upon). The party also congratulated itself for completing four years in office, starting from March 1998.
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