Jaipur, Nov 3 : Senior BJP leader and union minister Prakash Javadekar Saturday said the Ram temple was never a poll issue for the saffron party as he asked the Congress to clarify its stand on the matter.
Highlighting Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's remarks that no good Hindu would want the Ram temple at the site of a demolished mosque, Javadekar asked whether the Congress wanted a temple in Ayodhya or not.
Ram temple is not a poll issue for us but a "matter of belief", the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) poll in-charge for Rajasthan told reporters here.
The struggle for the temple has been going on for 500 years when there were no elections, he added.
"This is an issue (concerning) the country," he said further.
"BJP is not making Ram temple an election issue but raising a question on the statements of Congress (leaders). Does the party want a temple at the birthplace of lord Ram in Ayodhya or not," he said.
Javadekar also accused the Congress leaders of defaming Rajasthan, where assembly elections will be held on December 7, and claimed that the state progressed in several sectors under the incumbent BJP regime.
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
