M A I N   N E W S

Kanchi seer sends new proposal
Bajrang Dal backs VHP stand

Lucknow, June 17
In a fresh bid to resolve the Ayodhya tangle, Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati has sent new proposals to the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB).

“Though the Kanchi seer’s formula has not yet reached us, we have been told by sources close to the seer that the formula is on its way,” the AIMPLB vice-president and noted Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiqu told PTI here today.

“The proposals of the seer have been sent by courier and are likely to reach us within a day or two,” he said.

The Shia leader said he had sought the postponement of the meeting of the Babri panel scheduled to be held in New Delhi on June 21 to enable the Board members to go through the proposals.

Sadiqu claimed that the AIMPLB chairman and noted Islamic scholar Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi had agreed to postpone the meeting of the Babri panel.

Once received, the proposals would be referred to the Board’s working committee for consideration and taking a suitable decision, he said.

Nadvi had said recently that the Board was open to any worthwhile proposal to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, adding to the discomfiture of thr Vajpayee government, the RSS today backed to the hilt the VHP’s stand of not giving up claims on Kashi and Mathura temples and opposing 1000 mosques under the Archaeological Survey Of India being opened for namaz in return for a negotiated settlement to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

“The RSS fully supports the VHP stand on these issues as the (reported government) move to allow namaz to be offered in these mosques would only open old wounds and would not help in resolving issues,” RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said after a meeting between VHP leaders Praveen Togadia and Ashok Singhal with RSS Chief K.S. Sudarshan here today. PTI