Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge over the Ayodhya- Ram Janmabhoomi dispute case stated that they would wait for the Supreme Court's verdict over the contentious matter. Earlier on Wednesday, the Apex Court announced that the hearing of the contentious case will go parallel to the Ayodhya mediation and has asked all parties involved to make efforts to complete the final arguments by October 18. The mediation proceedings will be confidential and if reached on a settlement, it will be placed before the Supreme Court.

Speaking to the media  Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We will wait for the Supreme Court's judgment. I am telling you frankly, the case is pending in the court and I do not want to make any comments now. Let's wait and see whatever judgment the apex Court takes."

Talking about the benefits the Muslim parties will reap, BJP's Subramanian Swamy speaking to Republic said that the leaders had confided in him the failure to reach an amicable settlement. He added that Muslim leaders had said that they will be accused of taking bribes if they settled. He claimed that the current date has been set due to his plea in 2017. He reminded that such a date had not been set prior to this, since Allahabad HC's verdict in 2010.  

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Mediation to continue parallelly

Sources report that CJI Ranjan Gogoi has announced that the daily hearings on the Ayodhya dispute will continue as per schedule, as they are at an advanced stage. He has further stated that the terms of settlement and process of meditation would be confidential, as per sources. While the SC has allowed mediation to proceed parallelly, the CJI has reportedly stated that if the mediation process reaches a settlement, then the settlement is to be placed before the apex Court. This development comes two days after Ayodhya mediation committee had sought the apex court's permission to resume mediation talks, while the day-to-day hearing of the case was in progress.

Ayodhya hearing in SC

In a massive setback to the Ayodhya land dispute, the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on August 2 declared that the Ayodhya mediation panel headed by Justice FM Kalifulla has failed. The court then began day-to-day hearings from August 6. Earlier, the three-member Ayodhya mediation panel submitted its status report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover, complying with the orders of the apex court earlier on July 11. The apex court then declared that mediation has failed.

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