NCP hails PM's stand on Ayodhya

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 6. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday welcomed the change in the Prime Minister's stand on issues like Ayodhya.

The NCP said it welcomed the ``positive note'' struck in the Prime Minister's musings. ``The journey from Staten Island to Kumarakom has been bumpy, but at the end of the day, the Prime Minister has asserted over the Swayamsewak in Mr. Vajpayee,'' Mr. Devendra Dwivedi, general secretary of the party, said.

He expressed the hope that for the rest of his term as Prime Minister, ``Mr. Vajpayee the swayamsewak would be put in suspended animation''.

Mr. Dwivedi said with Mr. Vajpayee's latest statement, the Ayodhya controversy had been put to rest.

He chose to detach the NCP from the rest of the Opposition, saying the party had consciously taken a decision not to join the race to ``unmask'' the Prime Minister.

``We would like to accept his statement at its face value and give the benefit of the doubt to the Prime Minister'', Mr Dwivedi said.

On the Prime Minister's suggestion of finding a negotiated settlement to the Ayodhya issue, Mr. Dwivedi said that for the first time since the demolition of the Babri Masjid that a politician had suggested anything on these lines.

He wanted to know from the Government if it had done some groundwork for the negotiations or would it merely be an academic discussion.

On Jammu and Kashmir, the NCP leader said his party rejected trifurcation of the State as well as the idea of holding tripartite talks.

He, however, urged the Government to take the Opposition into confidence on the Kashmir initiative. ``Consensus is a two-way process and not a ritual, the Government must seriously pursue it''.

Mr. Dwivedi said the Bhartiya Jan Congress, headed by the former Bihar Chief Minister, Mr. Jaganath Mishra, has decided to merge with the NCP. The merger will take place on January 23 in Patna. ``The two parties have decided to unite in order to pave the way for greater coordination between parties wedded to secularism and pluralism,'' he said.

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