Embarrassed by a heated exchange between MPs of the BJP and other NDA alliance partners in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has convened a meeting of the NDA parties on Friday to sort out differences over the activities of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The BJP`s allies in the NDA are also meeting on Friday to build up pressure on the Prime Minister to adhere to the secular agenda of the coalition and prevent pro-hindutva forces from ``going berserk``.
BJP sources said that the NDA meeting would be held at the Prime Minister`s residence at 5:30 pm and is likely to focus on the attitude of the MPs from the parties such as the Janata Dal (United) and the Samata Party whose leaders are represented in the Union Cabinet. The demand to hold such a meeting was made by BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra so that differences were not aired in public. ``There should a mechanism to sort out differences in a large coalition of 24 parties,`` he said. Later, the BJP allies held an emergency meeting soon after heated exchange between the NDA partners and the BJP hardliners during the zero hour in the Lok Sabha and decided to meet again on Friday at around 12 noon.
Sources said that the allies wanted to settle the issues of the BJP hardliners` posture on Gujarat, Godhra victims asthi (ashes) yatra, the RSS Bangalore resolution and their style of functioning in Parliament, ``once for ever`` in the meeting. Bureau Report