Kalyan Singh says BJP kept him in dark about Babri demolition

Lucknow, May 02 (ANI): Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on Saturday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for keeping him in "dark" about Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.

Claiming that the BJP had hatched a conspiracy against him to throw him out of the party, Singh said, "Senior BJP leaders said no demolition will take place. I believed them... It was a conspiracy against me by the BJP leaders. It was a conspiracy to oust me. I was kept in the dark (about the demolition)."

Singh further asserted that the BJP did not consider him a suitable party member as he came from the backward class.

Singh's statement came in contrast with his own statement last month in which he took upon himself the "total" responsibility for Babri Masjid's demolition, as the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992.

"I will leave no stone unturned to defeat the BJP. I will work for the complete destruction of the BJP and stop all possibilities of the formation of a BJP-led NDA government at the Centre," he had said.

Just before the Lok Sabha polls, Kalyan Singh had quit the BJP to join hands with his erstwhile bete noire Mulayam Singh Yadav and has been campaigning for the latter's Samajwadi Party candidates in Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Patna today, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav called Kalyan Singh "a convict" in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

"He (Kalyan) is a convict in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He is not a member of the SP. Is he a member of SP?" Lalu said, when asked to comment on the former UP CM's call to Muslims to defeat the BJP. (ANI)