Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday sought to create division in the NDA on the Ayodhya issue by asking secular elements in the ruling alliance to decide how far they would go along with the BJP leadership whose hidden agenda has come out in the open. “We leave it to the conscience of secular elements in the NDA alliance to determine how long a rope they intend to give to the BJP leadership whose hidden agenda has come out of the closet and put on public display,” Gandhi told the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) in New Delhi. Stating it was because of efforts and determination of the Congress that the issue of resignations of three chargesheeted ministers in the Babri Masjid demolition case has come on the nation's agenda, she said , even the NDA allies have been put on the defensive.
Gandhi, who is also Chairperson of the CPP, expressed apprehension that the Prime Minister's rejection of the demand for resignation of the three ministers would encourage lawless and extremist elements in the sangh parivar and associated bodies to take the law into their own hands.
She alleged that the inept handling of the Babri Masjid-Ayodhya issue by Atal Bihari Vajpayee showed beyond a shadow of doubt that the Prime Minister is, indeed, himself a swayam sevak of 60 years standing who is committed to the philosophy of sangh parivar.
Bureau Report