NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
POLLING BOOTH
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT

Arjun Singh punctures Rao's claim

Congress Working Committee member Arjun Singh has denied that he had drafted the P V Narasimha Rao government's reaction to the Babri Masjid demolition at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. He said no such draft was placed before the Cabinet for approval.

He was refuting former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao's claim that Arjun Singh had drafted the government's reaction to the incident.

Addressing the media at the Bairagrah airport in Bhopal last evening, the former Union minister said, ''As Rao was to address the nation after the Ayodhya demolition, Singh said he along with others had only helped the prime minister in preparing the speech.''

Stating that no formal resolution had come up before the Cabinet on the Babri Masjid issue, Arjun Singh said there, however, were informal discussions.

Asked about the Congress apology to the Muslims for the government failure to protect the mosque, Singh said it was the right decision. ''But it should have come earlier,'' he said.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report