Varanasi: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has attacked the BJP for raking up the controversial Ram temple issue saying that it was a "gimmick" of the opposition party to regain power.

The RJD chief, who was in the temple town to offer prayers at the Kashi Viswanath temple, also said the saffron party was trying to throw the entire country in communal frenzy yet again by seeking to polarise the society on the Ayodhya issue for electoral gains.

Terming the saffron party's stand on the Ayodhya issue as an 'electoral gimmick', he told reporters last night, "BJP's deliberate attempts to rake the temple issue ahead of state polls in Uttar Pradesh was aimed at polarising the electorate on communal lines but people will foil their designs." While Lalu described BJP patriarch A B Vajpayee as a liberal politician, the Bihar strongman alleged that L K Advani was a fundamentalist.

"Vajpayee rose to the pinacle of the political hierarchy due to his stature as the liberal face of the saffron party, while advani had always remained a face of the party," he said.

He also attacked the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government for the deteriorating law and order situation and lack of economic development in the state and said that his party would jointly work with the Congress in throwing out them from power.

He said RJD would contest seats in eastern UP, while it would support the Congress candidates in the remaining seats.

On Congress poster boy in UP Rahul Gandhi, he said the young leader's active role in the state was expected to work in favour of the Congress.