| As a member of the NDA, the Janata Dal(U) had at its recently concluded party meeting in Ranchi, expressed reservations at the tone adopted by the BJP on three issues that were to be kept out of the NDA agenda ""Article 370, a common civil code and a moratorium on the Ram temple until the court had pronounced a verdict on the issue. Today's meeting of the two leaders is important in this context. |
| The JD(U) had also demanded an immediate meeting of the NDA to review their participation in the alliance if the BJP was to raise the Ram temple issue again. |
| The JD(U)'s reservations are likely to be echoed by other parties like the Telugu Desam Party as well. |
| Immediately after he took over the presidentship of the BJP, Advani called on TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, presumably to reassure him that the BJP would do nothing to weaken the NDA. |
| In the assessment of the allies, it is important to clear the air about Hindutva and Ram temple for ambivalence on this issue will cost the NDA the small number of votes it gets from the minorities to shrink further. |
| The two immediate electoral challenges facing the NDA are the elections in Bihar and Jharkhand ""where the JD(U) and the BJP both have a significant presence. |
| The recent exit from the party of BJP MP from Bihar, Anwar ul Haque, on the grounds that he could not stay in a party that kept reaffirming its faith in Hindutva and the Ram temple suggests that feelings in Bihar run high on this issue. |
| Advani's presidentship may have hastened Haque's exit, given that he is involved in several court cases of a criminal nature and Advani is known to have little time for individuals with a past he is not comfortable with. |
| A meeting of the NDA, therefore is on the cards. |
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