VHP expected the courts verdict to be in favour of temple construction, Parishad general secretary Acharya Giriraj Kishore said here today.

But if it went against it ``We shall launch a nation-wide agitation to press the government to allow construction of the temple through legislative measures,'' Kishore told newsmen while briefing on the deliberations of the three-day international coordination committee meeting of VHP.

The Union Government had changed the statute in the Shah Bano case to ``circumvent'' the court verdict and there should be no difficulty in doing so in deference to Hindu sentiments on construction of the temple, the VHP leader said. The construction of theRam temple may not start in the next three years as the materials required for it will not be ready till then, Kishore said.