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Ayodhya issue rocks LS
The reported secret meeting on Ram temple construction attended by five Union ministers lastweek rocked the Lok Sabha on Monday with an agitated Opposition charging the government with threatening the country`s secular fabric forcing adjournment of the house for 75 minutes.
The reported secret meeting on Ram temple construction attended by five Union ministers last
week rocked the Lok Sabha on Monday with an agitated Opposition charging the government with threatening the country`s secular fabric forcing adjournment of the house for 75 minutes.
The Opposition members, many of whom raised anti-government slogans and demanded sacking of the five ministers, sought a statement from home minister L K Advani saying they had defied government`s assurance that status quo at the disputed site in Ayodhya would not be violated. Quoting media reports about the meeting attended by ministers -- Ved Prakash Goel, Sripad Naik, Jayawanti Mehta, Annasaheb Patil and Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, some BJP MPs and VHP leader Ashok Singhal, Congress leader P R Dasmunsi said the ministers should also be present in the house to explain whether they shared Singhal`s views on start of construction of the temple anytime after march 12 next.
Dasmunsi wanted to know what transpired at the reported meeting and whether the ministers were permitted by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to attend it.
As Advani was not present in the Lok Sabha, the Congress member accused the home minister of running away from the house.
Dasmunsi, Ajoy Chakraborty (CPI) , Ramjilal Suman and Akhilesh Singh (both Samajwadi Party) and Rashid Alvi (BSP) maintained that a conspiracy was being hatched for temple construction with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled early next year.
Bureau Report
The Opposition members, many of whom raised anti-government slogans and demanded sacking of the five ministers, sought a statement from home minister L K Advani saying they had defied government`s assurance that status quo at the disputed site in Ayodhya would not be violated. Quoting media reports about the meeting attended by ministers -- Ved Prakash Goel, Sripad Naik, Jayawanti Mehta, Annasaheb Patil and Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, some BJP MPs and VHP leader Ashok Singhal, Congress leader P R Dasmunsi said the ministers should also be present in the house to explain whether they shared Singhal`s views on start of construction of the temple anytime after march 12 next.
Dasmunsi wanted to know what transpired at the reported meeting and whether the ministers were permitted by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to attend it.
As Advani was not present in the Lok Sabha, the Congress member accused the home minister of running away from the house.
Dasmunsi, Ajoy Chakraborty (CPI) , Ramjilal Suman and Akhilesh Singh (both Samajwadi Party) and Rashid Alvi (BSP) maintained that a conspiracy was being hatched for temple construction with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled early next year.
Bureau Report