Date:23/07/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/07/23/stories/2003072305571100.htm

National

Ready to back Cong. if it supports temple issue: VHP

JODHPUR JULY 22 . The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today said it was ready to support the Congress in the coming polls if the party supported it on the Ram temple issue.

"If the Congress supports us on the Ram mandir issue, the VHP can support it in the coming elections," the VHP international general secretary, Praveen Togadia, told reporters here. "Our plank is the Ram mandir and if any party supports it we will naturally go with it. If the Congress supports us we shall support it in the polls and if the BJP supports our cause, we shall support it."

Asked to comment on the three possible ways to solve the vexed Ayodhya issue — through courts, negotiations or legislation — he said ``Hindus are seeking only three temples — Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura — and if Muslims give them back to us, it will create a good atmosphere in the country''.

Referring to the Pakistan Jamait Ulema-e-Islam chief, Fazal-ur-Rahman's goodwill visit to India and the simultaneous bomb blasts in Katara killing Vaishnodevi pilgrims, he said "talks and bombs can't go together". — PTI