New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today (Dec 3, 2004) lamented that the judiciary had not so far "resolved" the vexed Ayodhya dispute and favoured dialogue for an early and amicable solution to the issue.

"It remains a fact that courts have not been able to resolve this dispute over the last so many decades and the matter continues to be pending for disposal in various courts in one way or the other.

"I feel had the court verdict come in reasonable time, it might have helped in finding a solution to this problem," he said in his affidavit filed before the Liberhan Commission probing the circumstances which led to the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992, when he was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Opining that a court verdict would leave the losing party dissatisfied, he said the best way out was a dialogue.

The BJP leader said his party never treated the Ram temple agitation as a political or vote-bank issue.

"For us it was a cultural and national issue, one that was associated with the nation's identity, esteem and confidence." He blamed other parties for politicising the issue and adopting a "fatal policy of undue appeasement".

However, after realising that their interests would be harmed, these parties changed tack and started branding the agitation and even Ram as communal, he said.

Singh said he had consciously avoided ordering firing on karsevaks who demolished the disputed structure, as that would have inflamed violence across the country.