While AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalitha deplored the alleged `aborted' attempts of Joshi to get a sectarian agenda cleared, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee charged that ``the BJP is trying to saffronise the education system.''

In a statement issued today, Jayalalitha urged Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to ensure that ``such unseemly situations are avoided in future and that the national agenda for governance is strictly adhered to by all ministries in the administration.''

Strangely, while the Prime Minister seems alive to legitimate questions and implications of the move going by his inaugural speech in which he emphasised his Government's commitment to secular values, the HRD Minister seems intent on steering the `Ship of State' in a diametricallyopposite direction, she said. ``The whole episode leaves a pertinent question hanging in the air as to whether the Minister receives directives and inspiration from sources other than the Prime Minister,'' she added.

Mamata Banerjee too came down on the fiasco and revealed that, ``The party was not consulted on the agenda decided for the conference.''Speaking to ENS, she said: ``We would like to be consulted on the agenda to know if this sets the frame work for the new education policy.''

Expressing surprise over the controversy the conference generated, Mamata said: ``We are not aware of the aspects in the agenda which created the controversy.'' When asked if she agreed with the political parties alleging `RSS is trying to package the agenda with the Hindutva ideology,' Mamata said: ``First of all we should have been informed about the agenda and it should have been discussed among the allies which has not been done.''