NEW DELHI. Nov 10: -The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday night appointed^ veteran leader Ram Prakash’ Gupta as the new chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, reports BSS.

Gupta will take oath tomorrow.

After a long period of uncertainties in the wake of factional feud in the BJP in Uttar Pradesh which caused electoral debacle in the state, senior BJP leaders at the residence of Prime Minister Atal Behari Va-«>ayee chose Gupta, who was eputy chief minister ,in the 1967 Samyukta Vidhayak Dal government of Charan Singh.

While choosing Gupta, the BJP officials said that he JGupta) did not belong to either .■ pro or anti-Kalyan Singh and would be able to steer the party, at least until the state assembly

- elections due in October 2001. "Phe BJP lost more than 20 seats " fti the recently held Lok Sabha flection in Uttar Pradesh and it "put the blame on Kalyan Singh.

The factional feud in the Uttar Pradesh BJP surfaced before the Lok Sabha election with dissidents demanding resignation of chief minister Kalyan Singh.

However. Kalyan Singh blamed the BJP leadership for the electoral defeat in the Uttar Pradesh. "By abandoning the Ram Janambhoomi movement, the leadership and damaged the party’s prospects," he said.

Kalyan Singh demanded review of the BJP’s policies and sought inclusion oi issues such as a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 (which provides special status to Kashmir) and a uniform civil

code to retain the party’s identity."

He said he had to go because "Vajpayee had made up his mind to remove me from the office."

Kalyan Singh said, the central leadership should give a serious thought as to why the party's tally remained static at 182 in 1998 and 1999 inspite of the fact that the party sought votes in the name of Prime Minister Atal Behari Bajpayee."

Addressing a group of Sadhus at Ayodhya yesterday he said whatever may be the consequences he would remain committed to the cause of "Ram Temple."

He announced that the Tem-ge would be built at the "Garbh riha? of the disputed Ram Janambhoomi complex.