BJP favours legislation for Ram Temple construction

The Bharatiya Janata Party is in favour of building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya by bringing in a special legislation, party president Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday in Lucknow.

Naidu, however, said, "Since we are leading the National Democratic Alliace government, we are not in a position to do so."

"The Ayodhya issue could be resolved only by three methods -- negotiations or judicial process or through a legislation. The first one had failed and the second was a long drawn pending process. It is therefore in the fitness of things that we go for legislation by evolving a general consensus on the all important issue," he said.

Referring to the repeated skirmishes between his party and coalition partner Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, he admitted that there was need for improvement in coordination between the two parties.

"After a detailed discussion with BJP ministers and other party functionaries, I have come to the conclusion that we need to strengthen the bonds of the coalition," he said. "I have emphasised upon this need during my meeting with Chief Minister Mayawati too last evening."

He called upon partymen to understand the intricacies of a coalition and work towards positive goals.

He announced the constitution of a three-member committee of BJP ministers to interact with the chief minister. "This committee will meet the chief minister once a month to sort out various problems."