New Delhi: As Lok Sabha polls draw nearer, back-channel activities have been launched to resolve the decades-old vexed Ayodhya tangle and other issues of communal discord with Sangh Parivar top brass holding first-ever talks with influential Muslim leadership in Delhi in this connection.

RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) chief K S Sudarshan, its spokesman Ram Madhav and VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) president V H Dalmiya met Jamait-i-Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Mehmood Madani and its two other top leaders Niaz Farouqi and Maulana Nomani four days back.

Aiming to "clear misunderstandings" about each other, the Hindu-Muslim religious leadership discussed among other topics the Ayodhya issue and how to solve it, sources privy to the meeting told reporters.

During the three-hour long meeting, in which the conceptions of both sides were aired frankly, the leaders "agreed that Ayodhya issue should be resolved through talks", the sources said about the face-to-face, arranged by Founder-President of Universal Association for Spiritual Awareness N K Sharma.

"The talks were aimed at building mutual trust and understanding over contentious issues, including Ayodhya," the sources said, adding the leaders agreed to meet again.

Significantly, two days after the meeting, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav expressed hope on Friday (Dec 26, 2003) that a "solution to Ayodhya was expected soon" as "talks are on".

When contacted about the development, Madhav confirmed that the meeting had taken place and said it was aimed at "building understanding" between the two communities.

Although he admitted that the Ayodhya issue "came up for discussion" at the meeting, Madhav said RSS was not involved in talks over this issue and that it was being handled by VHP.

He said he had the feedback that VHP was holding talks with Muslim groups and these were progressing "well" and cited this as the reason for his optimism about an early negotiated resolution of the dispute.

To a question, the RSS spokesman said the Government might also be involved in such talks.

Maulana Madani, when asked about the meeting, said it had a pre-decided agenda but various issues came up during "detailed and frank" discussions.

"There are a lot of misunderstandings among Hindus and Muslims about each other. The meeting deliberated upon ending these differences between the communities in national interest," he said.

Pointing to the Government's aim of making the country a developed nation by 2020, the Jamait-Ulema-e-Hind chief said the communities needed to end their petty differences if the national goal was to be achieved.

When asked about the Ayodhya issue, he said the meeting did not "concentrate" on it but added that there was no issue, which could not be resolved through talks.