Gupta not to stop building of Ram temple

He said he would not mind the construction if it was carried out quot;peacefullyquot; like the demolition of Babri Masjid. On the dropping of the three contentious issues of Ram Temple, uniform civil code and Article 370 from the party8217;s agenda, he said quot;it is not a question of giving up these issues. NDA8217;s agenda is BJP8217;s agendaquot;.

Gupta was recently in the eye of a storm when he openly advocated the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee denying that Gupta had made such a statement.

Asked what prompted his Government to bring forward a Bill under which permission was needed for the construction of places of worship in the State, Gupta said the purpose was to discourage proliferation of Inter-Services Intelligence activists along the Indo-Nepal border on the pretext of religious activities.

quot;It is for the limited purpose of maintaining internal security,quot; he said when asked if the Bill did not go against the fundamental right of worship.

To another question whether his government would allow its employees to join the RSS as in Gujarat, Gupta said he had not applied his mind to it.

On the Centre8217;s move to set up a Commission to review the Constitution, he said he was in favour of review but there should be a national debate on the issue.

The Chief Minister who is member of neither House of the bicameral state legislature said he would not be contesting any of the coming by-elections in the State.

He did not agree with the views of his opponents that his decision was a sign of weakness. Gupta brushed aside a question whether the outcome of the by-elections should be considered as a referendum on his performance saying quot;it is for you to interpretquot;.

To another question, he said there was no proposal to downsize his ministry as an austerity measure but had taken several measures to cut down expenditure on his security.