Taking a strong exception to Union Minister Rajnath Singh's remarks that the BJP would contest the UP polls on development plank and not on the issue of Ram temple construction, the Congress party on Saturday said Singh's comment exposed the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) "double-face".
"Dubiousness is a habit of the BJP; one leader says something, while the other says something else. In the case of Ram Temple, Subramanian Swamy says the temple will be constructed by coming December. And now, Rajnath Singh says this is a non-issue. It is important to note that both of them are members of the BJP Working Committee, so they expose the double face of the saffron party," Congress leader Pramod Tiwari told ANI.
Tiwari asked if the Ram Temple matter is not a plank for the UP elections, then why there is a political discussion and repeated comments by top leaders over the issue.
"More importantly when the matter is pending in the Supreme Court, why these unwarranted statements are coming from the VHP and the BJP leaders," he said.
The Home Minister said his party would fight next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on the issue of development and not on the issue of construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, citing it as an important "cultural issue" and not political.
"The Ram Mandir issue is not a political, but a cultural issue. The matter is also sub judice. The matter is in the Supreme Court and we are only waiting for the judgment," Rajnath said.
Asked whether polarisation would benefit BJP, Rajnath said his party never indulged in the politics of communal polarisation for votes.
