Lucknow, April 26: Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s lone rally in Uttar Pradesh yesterday exposed what the BJP had so far kept under wraps — bitterness and scarred relations among its top leaders in the state.

“The media spread the canard that I was not campaigning because I am upset with Kalyan Singh,” he said.

As the BJP’s poll managers watched in horror, Vajpayee went on: “Unhone kaha ke meri aur Kalyan Singh ki khatpat hai. Aisa kehna mere prati anyay hai. Saarey virodhon ko bhula kar kartavya ka paalan karen (They say Kalyan Singh and I do not get along. They are being unfair to me. We should forget our differences and carry out our responsibilities).”

Vajpayee praised Kalyan on the surface but his pointed references to their strained relations have set tongues wagging in the state where elections are underway.

Kalyan’s barbs at Vajpayee had forced the BJP to expel him from the party in December 1999. His scathing remarks — “The NDA government is run by a tired Prime Minister and retired bureaucrats (a reference to Vajpayee and Brajesh Mishra)” and “CM bhullakad, PM piyakkad (alluding to former chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta’s forgetfulness and Vajpayee’s drinking habits)” — had almost been forgotten before Vajpayee raked up the issue today.

Besides the Vajpayee-Kalyan differences, tension has been brewing behind the pleasantries that BJP leaders routinely exchange in public.

Party president Rajnath Singh has tried his best to portray a sense of bonhomie with Kalyan. He even referred to Kalyan as the “best chief minister ever, even better than I was”. But the tension under the surface has not eased.

Kalyan believes he is the tallest leader in Uttar Pradesh. But the fact is he would have to bow to decisions taken in Delhi where Rajnath is at the helm of affairs, especially with regard to government formation in Uttar Pradesh.

“We are not going to form an alliance with anyone — be it the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party. Either we emerge as the single-largest party with enough numbers to form the government or we sit in the Opposition,” Rajnath told The Telegraph.