BJP's hardline stance worries TDP

The Bharatiya Janata Party's apparent move to revert to hardline Hindutva has put its ally, Telugu Desam Party, in a political dilemma. Party chief and for mer chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has objected to the saffron party's statements on Ayodhya issue.

Viewing BJP president L K Advani's invocation of the Hindutva plank as a 'disquietening development', the TDP is in the process of assessing the impact of BJP's new-found ideological stridency on the future relations between the two parties.

At a closed-door meeting with a group of party leaders from Telangana region in Hyderabad on Thursday, Naidu is understood to have disapproved of Advani's remark that BJP was committed to the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

"We have made our stand clear on the Ayodhya issue. It should be resolved through a court verdict or consensus among the communities. We will never compromise on secularism," a former TDP minister quoted Naidu as having said at the meeting.

Though party leaders have called for review of the alliance with the BJP in the changed political scenario, Naidu is reported to have pointed out that the issue of alliance could be decided only at the time of elections.

"We were never part of the NDA. We had only extended outside support to the government. We had differed with BJP leadership on several issues, including Ayodhya and Gujarat violence. The alliance is only confined to elections," Naidu said.