The Bharatiya Janata Party will hold countrywide protests against the arrest of junior Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati, senior party leader Dr Murali Manohar Joshi announced in New Delhi on Tuesday.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of senior party leaders, which was attended by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party president Lal Kishenchand Advani.

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"The party has decided to hold countrywide protests against the vindictive manner in which the Tamil Nadu government headed by Ms Jayalalithaa has been carrying out campaign against the two Shankaracharyas of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam,'' he said.

Joshi said the party leadership has asked the state units to hold protests and demonstrations from January 15-22. It has been left to the units to decide the manner of the protests.

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The Delhi unit of the BJP will hold the first rally on January 15, Joshi said. The venue will be decided later, he added.

Dr Joshi described the junior pontiff's arrest on Monday after the Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati was granted bail by the Supreme court as an act of vendetta.

"Tamil Nadu government has attacked the traditions and tried to disrupt the daily pooja at the mutt. On Monday the police entered the mutt premises to carry out more searches," he alleged.

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Vajpayee and Advani attended the meeting only for a couple of minutes. It was left for Dr Joshi to chair the meeting and chalk out the strategy to register its protests.

Dr Joshi denied there was any move to meet President A J P Abdul Kalam. "There is no such plan. Our senior leaders have already met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [Images] on this issue and registered their protest," he added.