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Raipur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on July 19 supported the Sangh Parivar demand for a legislation to construct Ram temple in Ayodhya but said its passage would not be possible in Parliament without the support of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies and Congress.

In its much awaited resolution on Ayodhya, adopted on the second day of the party's national executive in Raipur, BJP said that even though the common agenda of NDA makes no mention of a legislative initiative to resolve the temple issue, the party was of the view that this alternative should be explored, highly placed party sources told Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and other top party brass were present when the resolution was adopted, the sources said.

The resolution while supporting the legislative option, however, said if it were to be "fruitful", the NDA allies and especially the Opposition Congress party would have to extend their support to it.

While reaffirming the party's view that it favoured construction of a Ram temple at the Ram Janamsthan (disputed site) it said the present arithmetic in Parliament was not in favour of legislation. The resolution, also emphasised on an early solution to the vexed issue through dialogue or judiciary.

It also recalls that the party had played an active role in the Ram temple movement following the Palampur resolution of 1989.

The resolution comes close on the heels of intense pressure on the BJP from its Sangh Parivar associates, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to bring in legislation on the issue.

The resolution, also came at the end of prolonged discussions within the party on the issue.

Initially, party general secretaries Pramod Mahajan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi drafted the resolution.

However, after consultations with Vajpayee, Advani and party president Venkaiah Naidu, a sub- committee, comprising Union Ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Arun Jaitley besides parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra, was formed which gave final touches to the resolution on July 19.

PTI