Failure made BJP fall back on Ram temple: UP minister

Failure on all fronts forced the BJP to fall back on the Ram Mandir issue, Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister Mohd Azam Khan said on Tuesday.

He claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to foment trouble and disrupt communal harmony in the state ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, adding that the state government will maintain peace at all costs.

"The issue of Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya is before the Supreme Court and all stakeholders should wait for its verdict," Khan said in Rampur, his legislative constituency.

Any attempt to disturb peace by raking up the contentious issue again will harm the secular fabric of the nation, the minister warned.

Asked for the state government's response to reports that truckloads of stones had arrived from Rajasthan for building the Ram temple, the senior Samajwadi Party leader maintained that the Uttar Pradesh government will discharge its duties.

In August, the Supreme Court allowed repair of covers and provision of other facilities at the makeshift Ram Lalla temple at the disputed site in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya town.