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LS defeats Oppn motion on Ayodhya

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Lok Sabha on Thursday defeated the Opposition-sponsored censure motion on Ayodhya by a margin of over 100 votes after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called for building a consensus on the sensitive issue.

Vajpayee's assertion came as a relief to the ruling alliance partners like the Trinamul Congress, the Telegu Desam Party, the Indian National Lok Dal and the Janata Dal (United ), all of whom had urged the prime minister to clarify his recent statement on the Ayodhya issue.

Speaker G M C Balyogi first put the motion (demanding the resignations of three Union ministers chargesheeted in the Babri Masjid demolition case) to a voice vote. However, following protests from Opposition benches he ordered a division.

The motion was defeated 270 to 174.

The prime minister's oft-interrupted reply to the debate did not have much to add to his earlier clarifications, except the brave assertion that the NDA stood united against the Opposition onslaught.

After underscoring that there was no question of seeking the resignations of his charge-sheeted ministers - Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister of State for Sports Uma Bharti - the prime minister said he would reject their resignations even if they were tendered to him.

Vajpayee came out strongly in defence of Advani charging the Opposition of trying to drive a wedge between him and his home minister.

"The Opposition is mistaken if it believes that the NDA will disintegrate. It is strongly united," Vajpayee emphasised.

On the recent resignation of minister of state for defence Harin Pathak after he was charge-sheeted in a murder case, Vajpayee said Pathak resigned on his own.

He rebutted the Opposition charge that his recent statement on Babri Masjid, wherein he said the work of temple construction at the disputed site in Ayodhya was an unfinished task, was made under pressure from the Hindutva forces.

"If anything, I was under pressure from the media," the prime minister said referring to "exaggerated" reports about sharp divisions in NDA ranks.

The Opposition benches continuously heckled Vajpayee during his 50-minute speech, drawing caustic comments from the speaker.

When Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav sought to make some comments about the Sangh Parivar's alleged role in the demolition of the masjid, the prime minister said: "Mulayam Singh ne Ram bhakton ke upar goli chalwayi," causing the treasury benches to explode with anti-Mulayam slogans.

The prime minister said there are only two ways to resolve the Ayodhya tangle -- one, the Supreme Court hands over the disputed land to the Hindus to construct a temple. Second, both Hindus and Muslims sit together to sort out the differences.

"There is no third way. This is not a question on which there should be a rivalry among political parties," he said.

S Jaipal Reddy of the Congress, who concluded the debate, asserted that Vajpayee had failed to apologise for the demolition of the mosque even though he had called it unfortunate.

Warning the NDA partners about the "hidden agenda" of the Vajpayee government, he said: "The NDA is a genetically defective child...it would not survive for long."

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