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The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has approached Trinamul Congress with a proposal for an all-party meeting to work out a solution to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday night.
Banerjee said the proposal came from VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Swami Chinmayananda, when they met her in New Delhi last week.
She, however, did not clarify whether her party had accepted the VHP proposal.
"I feel that now there is a war-like situation at the border. The Ram Janambhoomi issue is indeed sensitive. But first we have to safeguard the interests of the motherland," she said.
The VHP, which has been stridently demanding the Ram Janambhoomi temple at Ayodhya, has repeatedly expressed its intention to begin construction of the temple by March 12 next year.
Apart from Banerjee, VHP representatives have met senior leaders like former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Union Ministers Ajit Singh and George Fernandes to apprise them of their stand on the issue.
The Trinamul leader claimed that during the meeting she noticed that the VHP had 'mellowed down' on the issue.
But she did not elaborate her remark. She said there was nothing unusual in her parleys with the VHP leaders, as she met whoever called on her.
"I meet everybody -- irrespective of whether they are Sikhs, Hindus or Muslims," she said.
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