New Delhi, Aug 05: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today charged the Opposition with making Ayodhya its whipping boy in the absence of any other issue even as several BJP MPs asked the government to act fast on Ram temple, uniform civil code and population control. Chairing the parliamentary party meeting in the absence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister said a final decision on the issue of synchronising Lok Sabha and assembly elections would be taken only after wide consultations within the party, government, NDA and different political parties.
He said though half of the monsoon session was over, the Opposition, particularly the Congress, had no other issue, except repeatedly raising the Ayodhya issue.
Advani praised Vajpayee and Law Minister Arun Jaitley for effectively countering the Opposition`s baseless allegations against the government and exposing it, party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters here after the meeting.
Malhotra said some members urged the government to facilitate early construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya and take effective steps for implementation of the uniform civil code and population control.
Advani, however, did not react, he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister described as "historic" the electoral reforms undertaken by the government which would not only check misuse of money power in the elections but also enable military and para-military personnel to exercise their franchise through proxy voting.
He said three bills pertaining to electoral reforms were at different stages. They included the one providing for open ballot in Rajya Sabha elections to ensure that legislators were not bought. The bill also removes the condition of local residence for contesting elections to the upper House, he said.
Advani said the government would try to bring in the current session itself an amendment to the existing anti-defection law which presently enables legislators to defect in "wholesale but not individually."
He also assured party MPs that rules would be framed for the Freedom of Information Bill.
Bureau Report