New Delhi, September 01: With the verdict of the Allahabad High Court on the original Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title suit set to catapult the communally sensitive Ayodhya issue on to the centrestage once again, senior BJP leader L K Advani on Tuesday advised party leaders to exercise caution in their public utterances on the matter.
However, BJP president Nitin Gadkari kept quiet when asked at a media interaction whether his party would accept the court verdict. Instead, he asked the government to abide by the Supreme Court directions and distribute foodgrains to the poor rather than allowing it to rot in godowns. “Any direction given by the court is binding on the government,” he said in the wake of the apex court ruling on Tuesday.
Gadkari shied away when asked whether his party would abide by the court verdict in the Ayodhya case. “I have no comments to offer,” he added.
Advani’s word of caution came at the Parliamentary Party meeting of the BJP. “On Ayodhya, Advani asked MPs not to make statements which are against national interest. As a national party, we should make statements by exercising caution when the verdict is delivered,” said BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia after the meeting.
Gadkari, however, sought to project the rotting of foodgrains as a collective failure of the UPA government rather than that of the Agriculture Ministry.
——–Agencies