Manmohan's praise of Rao indicates brewing discord with Sonia:BJP

New Delhi, Apr 1 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party today saw the praise of former PM Narasimha Rao by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an indication of the ''brewing differences between the 7, Race Course and the 10, Janpath.'' Dr Manmohan Singh's remarks that follow Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi's statement putting all blame on the Rao government for the demolition of the Babri Masjid indicate that'' he was making ground for defending his own government,'' said BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi here.

Dr Manmohan Singh had yesterday describing Mr Rao as a 'Sanyasi' in politics, said he was his ''friend, philosopher and guide in many ways.'' He said he would always cherish the unique opportunity he had to work with him, as the former Prime Minister was a ''modernizer who was steeped in our tradition and ethos.'' On the other hand, Mr Rahul Gandhi during his poll recent campign in Uttar Pradesh had said that the Babri Masjid would not have been destroyed had the Gandhi family been in power at the Centre.

Mr Rao headed the Congress government at the Centre when the Babri Masjid was demolished, and he had been generally accused of inaction when the demolition was taking place at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh which was ruled by the BJP then.

The BJP leader said, ''Dr Singh very well knows that the Congress President Sonia Gandhi was going to make him a scapegoat for all failures of her party in the near future, so his praise of Mr Rao could be seen in that context. '' Mr Naqvi said the ''discord'' between Dr Singh's government and the Congress president would deepen after the party's imminent debacle in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

UNI