Ram temple issue close to BJP's heart

Two days after claiming that building a Ram temple at Ayodhya was not a priority for the BJP, party spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman Saturday said that the issue was "very close" to the saffron party's heart.

Sitaraman, who was addressing the media on the sidelines of the party's national executive meeting here, also said that the party would decide on an action plan only after the judiciary adjudicates on the issue.

"The BJP believes in it and it is one of core issues which are very close to our hearts. Obviously we have to respect the court and wait for the court's verdict," Sitaraman said.

On June 6, party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here that the temple issue was not a "priority" for the party, especially in face of other pressing issues like price-rise, corruption and bad governance of the government.

"The priority before the party is price-rise, corruption and bad governance of this government," Naqvi had said, when asked why party leaders had been silent on the Ayodhya temple issue.

Sitaraman, however, said: "It is important for us to speak about it and to work once the courts are clear with it. To say that it is on the priority today and it is not on the priority tomorrow is not right.

"It is important for us to speak about it and to work once the courts are clear with it."