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RSS leaders meet Vajpayee over lunch

They discussed the entire gamut of political issues, including the violence in Gujarat and the fallout of the BJP-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance for power in Uttar Pradesh.

Emerging from the hour-long meeting, Union Rural Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that the meeting was aimed at having better coordination, consultations and exchange of ideas between the two organisations.

"It was felt that one must understand another's view," he said. "There should be an understanding of the compulsions of mass organisations and limitations of the government."

The RSS delegation included its chief K S Sudarshan, joint general secretary in charge of BJP affairs Madan Das Devi, and joint general secretary H V Seshadri. The BJP was represented by Vajpayee, party chief K Jana Krishnamurthy, Union ministers Lal Kishenchand Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and M Venkaiah Naidu and former president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre.

The proposed organisational reshuffle in the BJP as indicated at its recent national executive meeting in Goa, possible social ramifications of the BJP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the violence in Gujarat, voting on the censure motion on Gujarat in Parliament and efforts to resolve the vexed Ayodhya issue figured in the deliberations.

"There is an NDA agenda, which has been accepted by the party and the people, and the government will run on the programme," Naidu said. "The BJP knows it and the Sangh knows it."

Naidu reiterated Advani's stand that the party need not be apologetic about its agenda, ideology and stand.

"There were suggestions that we should have similar meetings regularly and greater communication between the two organisations," Madan Das Devi told reporters later.

In the first such interaction after the outbreak of communal violence in Gujarat, the top brass of the BJP and RSS had met at Vajpayee's residence on Saturday to review the country's political and economic situation.

Sunday's meeting also assumes significance in the wake of Vajpayee's meeting with Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam on Saturday night.

After the failure of his mission in March, the seer is making a renewed attempt to resolve the Ayodhya dispute. He had a meeting with Muslim leaders of Ayodhya on Friday.

VHP vice-president Giriraj Kishore called on Jayendra Saraswati in New Delhi on Sunday morning and discussed, among other things, ways to resolve the Ayodhya tangle.

PTI

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

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