Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of keeping him in the "dark" about the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and hatching a "conspiracy" against him.
"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)," said the rebel BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who is contesting as an independent from Etah district.
Kalyan Singh said the BJP leaders had assured him that nothing will happen.
"Senior BJP leaders said no demolition will take place. I believed them," he added - in an apparent attempt to woo the Muslim voters.
Raking up the caste factor, he said: "I was not acceptable to the BJP. I was targeted because I come from the backward classes."
"Muslims don't want BJP, I don't want BJP. I have dug a ditch for the BJP and I request you to throw mud so that we can bury BJP," he said.
The 16th century Babri Masjid was razed by Hindu activists on December 6, 1992, when Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. It triggered large scale communal riots in northern India.
For the first time in 18 years since the Babri demolition, Kalyan Singh shared a stage with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh at Bulandshaher. Mulayam has been avoiding such a meeting as several SP leaders, including Mulayam's trusted lieutenant Azam Khan, have been opposed to the alliance with Kalyan Singh. But as Phase IV polling nears Mulayam knows that his party needs the Lodh community votes that Kalyan Singh can deliver. Kalyan Singh - the one time Hindutva poster boy - is now appealing to Muslims to help him bury the BJP.
Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said, "I had warned Mulayam that on the one side he has Kalayan and on the other side is Lalu who is from Bihar and who has lost. NDA will be largest coalition after elections, but I don't consider myself as a prime ministerial candidate."
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