'Nirmohi Akhada has mislead the media'

A day after the Nirmohi Akhara voiced its readiness to cooperate with the Ram Lala Virajman for building a temple in Ayodhya following talks with a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, the man who represented the deity in the court said he did not authorise anyone to negotiate on his behalf.

Mahant of the Akhara, Bhaskar Das said that senior member of the Ram Janmbhoomi Nyas and VHP leader Ram Vilas Vedanti met him and the Akhara, who were ready to cooperate if they got prominence in arrangements made for the construction of the temple. However, Triloki Nath Pandey, who represented the litigant 'Ram Lala Viraajman' in court as his "next friend", said he has not authorised Vedanti to talk to anyone on his behalf.

Terming Vedanti's reported claim that he has been authorised by Pandey to negotiate with the Nirmohi Akhara as "misleading", Pandey said that he had no relation with either the VHP or Vedanti. "I have not initiated any negotiations with any party -- be it any Muslim party or the Nirmohi Akhara -- and the media has been mislead by Vedanti and also by Nirmohi Akhara," Pandey told PTI in Ayodhya.

Reacting to Pandey's statement, Vedanti said, "I did not go to Nirmohi Akhara as representative of Pandey but as a representative of the VHP."