Narasimha Rao tried to sideline Gandhi family: AICC Secy

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Congress of neglecting its leader and former PM P V Narasimha Rao and others, AICC secretary G Chinna Reddy Wednesday alleged the late leader had tried to "sideline" the Nehru-Gandhi family during his tenure.

Reddy, a former Congress minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, also sought to blame Rao over the Babri Masjid demolition in December, 1992 when he was the prime minister, saying it alienated Muslims from the party.

Rao was made Prime Minister by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he claimed.

"PV Narasimha Rao ji tried to politically suppress the family, Sonia Gandhi ji and Congress party, which helped him become Prime Minister. He tried to sideline that family (fearing) he might not get Prime Minister's post again," he told reporters at the Congress state headquarters here.

Reddy claimed Muslims moved away from Congress following the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya as they felt that the Centre could have stopped it with all the powers it had.

"Central intelligence department, Prime Minister, National Security Adviser and all had the information (about the trouble)," he said.

In his speech in Parliament Tuesday, Modi had said while his government had given Bharat Ratna to veteran Congress leader and former president Pranab Mukherjee, the opposition party couldn't think about bestowing the honour to former prime ministers Rao and Manmohan Singh.

Modi was making a counter attack to the charge that he was not recognising Congress leaders' contributions.

Reddy also appeared to criticised Mukherjee, saying he was a great parliamentarian and a great administrator, but accepted the RSS invite to speak at its meeting in Nagpur.

"After that, he was given Bharat Ratna," Reddy said.

Reddy, who had served as minister when Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was Chief Minister in undivided Andhra Pradesh, alleged Modi was trying to "fill India with leaders who have RSS ideology".