NEW DELHI, DEC 15: The BJP today circulated copies of ``P.V. Narasimha Rao, Biographical sketches'', in which Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, has given a ``clean chit'' to Union Home Minister L.K. Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case.BJP Parliamentary Party Secretary Ashwani Kumar had yesterday asked Harish Chander, the author of the book, to send all available copies to him as ``Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, wants them to be distributed among MPs''.Kumar confirmed having placed the order. ``The Prime Minister has seen the book. He has also listened to the cassette containing Deshpande's interview. I was asked me to procure the book and distribute it among MPs,'' he told The Indian Express. Chander sent him 987 copies, each costing Rs 500.Deshpande had apparently exonerated BJP leaders from charges of demolishing the mosque.``P.V. (Narasimha Rao) is not to be blamed and I think those (Advani, Vajpayee) who promised him that nothing will happen there, even they are not to blamed. I know their anguish. Perhaps it was beyond their control also. Some others were responsible,'' Deshpande said seven years ago, in an interview to Chander.Ironically, the BJP bought a Congress leader's biography while refusing to even release another biographical book by the same author on RSS ideologue, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. ``I was requested by Vajpayee in 1995 to write a biography of Dr Mukherjee in English. But he refused to release it, diverting me to Advani instead,'' Chander said today.Advani has been sitting on the book for the past eight months without finalising a date for its release, he alleged. The BJP has not ordered even ordered a single copy of the book, written on Vajpayee's request, Chander complaints.Vajpayee, however, did not refer to Deshpande's ``certificate'' to Advani during his reply to the debate on the Opposition's demand for resignation of three chargesheeted Union ministers - M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti and Advani - in the Babri Masjid demolition case. Vajpayee had told Express recently that if the Parliament permitted him, he was ready to share the cassette with MPs.Kumar, however, denies having received instructions from Vajpayee to procure the book. ``It was in fact, a common acquaintance who asked me to buy the book for distribution among MPs and journalists,'' he said.BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said the party had indeed procured Rao's biography to be distributed among MPs as a ``reference book''.Chander, a freelance journalist, has so far penned eight books - four of them biographies of former Prime Ministers - two of Rajiv Gandhi and one each of Rao and Nehru. His book - Many facets of Rajiv Gandhi - was banned by then prime minister Rao in 1994 since it contained former president Giani Zail Singh's account of his differences with Rajiv.
