VP Singh’s remarks laughable: Vajpayee

NEW DELHI: Former prime minister VP Singh’s latest literary venture has been hit by a spate of denials. After the Congress, it was the turn of another former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to junk the claims made by the ailing leader in his book.

“Mr Singh’s remarks that I was then unhappy with the party are not only far from the truth, but laughable,” Mr Vajpayee said in a statement here on Wednesday. In his book Manzil Se Zyada Safar, released on his 75th birthday, Mr Singh has claimed that Mr Vajpayee was so unhappy with the BJP some 20 years ago that he had mulled over the idea of parting ways and creating a new party.

The vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, another BJP veteran, agreed with Mr Vajpayee’s thinking, Mr Singh claimed in his memoirs. Mr Vajpayee also rebutted Mr Singh’s comment that he had suggested the latter take the lead in setting up a new party.

“I never suggested to him that he should take some selected people along and move ahead as he has written in his book,” Mr Vajpayee said. Mr Vajpayee also said Mr Singh’s comments on him in his book could create misunderstanding — a point that the Congress would also agree with. “Some of the portions of the book have surprised me... that is why I have given this statement so as to clear doubts (arising from the memoirs),” Mr Vajpayee said.

“VP Singh is good at poetry and painting. He should stop trying his hand at prose,” BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Wednesday afternoon while distributing copies of the relevant excerpts from the book.

Mr Singh’s book has also been trashed by the Congress, which took exception to his claim that Sonia Gandhi had refused to accept the prime ministership in May ’04 because of reports of threat to her life.