The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said that the Ayodhya issue was very much on the party's agenda and that the National Democratic Alliance coalition was a religion, not a compulsion, for the party for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The party also said that there was no pressure from NDA partners to keep away Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the next parliamentary polls.
"Coalition is not a compulsion for us. We have proved the credibility and stability of coalition during our erstwhile tenure. We consider alliance as a religion," BJP national vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told media persons in Panaji.
"We never said Ayodhya is not on our agenda. But as far as priority is concerned, the issues like price rise, corruption, bad governance top it," BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told media persons, ahead of the party's National Executive meeting.
"We are honest as far as our ideological commitment (on temple issue) is concerned. But, in Goa we would be discussing the political issues," the leader said responding to a question.
The BJP is all set to hold its office bearers' and National Executive meeting in Goa from Friday onwards.
Naqvi recalled that different question marks were raised when NDA came to power under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"But we proved our credibility and stability by running the government through common minimum programme and agenda for development," he added.
Naqvi said that the NDA alliance will be stronger and would be expanded in the coming days.
"We will inform you at the right time (about the expansion of NDA)," the BJP leader stated.
Responding to a question, Naqvi said there is no pressure from any alliance partner to keep away Modi during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"There is absolutely no pressure on us from the coalition partners," he said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier expressed his reservations over projecting Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.
Predicting that Lok Sabha elections might happen this year, Naqvi said that the National Executive will discuss the issues related to politics and internal security of the country by passing various resolutions.
"The party will take ground level feedback on various issues," he said.
