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PM rejects demand for ministers'
resignation, supports temple construction

Simultaneously, Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman had ruled out any apology for the demolition.

As Parliament lay paralysed for the third day with the opposition stepping up the demand for the resignation of Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati chargesheeted in the demolition case, the prime minister described the demand as 'unjustified and uncalled for'.

''Construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya was an expression of national feeling, which is yet to be realised,'' Vajpayee told reporters who asked him whether the ministers would resign.

Strongly defending the ministers, he said, ''They (chargesheeted ministers) were only trying to pacify the crowd and it is wrong to blame them. They didn't go for demolition.''

He drew a distinction between the resignation by minister of state for defence Harin Pathak after he was chargesheeted in a murder case and the three ministers.

The prime minister's statement came under immediate attack with opposition parties saying it has 'exposed' the real face of Vajpayee and the BJP while National Democratic Alliance constituent Telugu Desam Party felt he need not have made these remarks.

In Jaipur, Laxman, who began his term as BJP chief with a call for co-opting Muslims, said his party would not tender any apology for the demolition. ''BJP has not committed any mistake, nor has anyone demanded such an apology from the party,'' he told reporters.

He said the Ayodhya movement was a political movement. ''Every party has participated in some political movement or the other. Such participation cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be construed as sufficient ground for demanding a minister's resignation,'' Laxman said.

On the eighth anniversary of the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya, Sangh Parivar outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad demanded that the Union Government transfer the 67 acres of the land acquired in Ayodhya to facilitate construction of the Ram temple.

VHP President Ashok Singhal said in Ayodhya that the 'dharam sansad' to be held in Allahabad next month would demand that the Union government transfer the acquired land for construction of the Ram temple.

He said the temple issue was based on faith and Parliament and political parties had nothing to do with it.

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