New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) The Congress Steering Committee, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, met here Tuesday and discussed the Ayodhya verdict and the successful inauguration of the Commonwealth Games, party sources said.
The meeting also discussed the situation in conflict-ridden Kashmir, the source added.
The steering committee, as the policy-making working committee has been rechristened after Sonia Gandhi’s re-election as the party chief Sep 3, was held at the party headquarters. It was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and other leaders.
Party sources said Chidambaram gave details on the three major issues to the top party panel.
The meeting is understood to have expressed its satisfaction at the ‘mature reaction’ by the nation to the Ayodhya verdict.
Some leaders are understood to have epressed the view to ‘wait and watch’ the situation for three months, during which period the Allahabad High Court has asked for a status quo to be maintained at the disputed land in Ayodhya.
Regarding the Commonwealth Games, the meeting expressed satisfaction that the ceremonial inauguration went off well and earned praises of the international community, sources said. This, they felt, helped to erase complaints of delays and irregularities.
The steps to defuse the volatile situation in Kashmir also came for discussion, sources said. As per the eight-point peace formula announced by the union government recently, a team of interlocutors is to be appointed soon to talk to the people of Kashmir, especially the separatist leaders.
A three-member bench of the Allahabad High Court Sep 30 ruled that the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided equally among the three litigants – the Sunni Central Wakf Board, the Ram temple, and the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu sect.
