Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar used him as a 'pawn' and hatched a conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid.

"I am telling you the names of the conspirators -- RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) chief at that time Rajinder Singh (Rajju Bhaiyya), present Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan, (Prime Minister) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, (Deputy PM) Lal Kishenchand Advani, (Human Resources Development Minister) Murli Manohar Joshi, and Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishore of the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) it was the collective conspiracy of all these (people)," he said while participating in Aap Ki Baat, BBC Ke Saath programme on Sunday.

Singh, who was the chief minister when the demolition took place, said: "So far as the conspiracy is concerned, I was kept totally in the dark. I was deceived; it was a breach of trust by the entire Sangh Parivar, whether it be the VHP, Bajrang Dal or the BJP."

The conspiracy was hatched so secretly that 'I was not told anything', he said.

Singh said the BJP wanted to exploit the issue for electoral gains.

"They thought they could project me as a hero so that later they could make me zero politically. But they were mistaken. They are heading for a political zero in Uttar Pradesh. Last time they had won 176 assembly seats; this time they have 76 and in the next assembly elections they are not going to have more than 16-17 seats."

Press Trust of India