The Hindu : TDP chief to discuss Ayodhya issue with PM tomorrow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 16, 2003

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TDP chief to discuss Ayodhya issue with PM tomorrow

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB 15. Ahead of the National Democratic Alliance dinner meeting at the residence of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, tomorrow, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, will be meeting Mr. Vajpayee.

Apparently, one of the important subjects that will be discussed is the plan to hand over part of the land acquired by the Government in Ayodhya to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad-controlled trust in the event of a favourable decision by the Supreme Court, which will be hearing a government petition on this on February 21.

Mr. Naidu has already let it be known in Hyderabad that he is not in favour of opening the Ayodhya issue and that he would oppose the handing over of acquired land to any agency or trust before the Allahabad High Court delivers its final verdict on the main Ayodhya title deed case. He has reportedly stated that when there were so many important development issues before the country there was no need to reopen the Ayodhya case.

Several top ministers will be present at tomorrow's meeting scheduled at 11.30 a.m. between the Mr. Naidu and the Prime Minister. Among them are the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, the Defence Minister and NDA convener, George Fernandes, and BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu.

The Ayodhya issue could come up at the NDA dinner meeting and the Prime Minister would be keen on shoring up support from the Telugu Desam Party ahead of the meeting. The TDP, which supports the NDA Government from the "outside" and is not part of it, normally stays away from the NDA meetings. The TDP is the major "friend" of the Vajpayee Government, which is in a position to raise inconvenient questions. The rest are weak and compromised.

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