New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Venkaiah Naidu on August 4 expressed shock and dismay over media reports suggesting frictions within the party and said they were misinterpreted and blown out of proportion.

Taking strong exception to the way in which the media played up the "bickering" between him and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan, he said, "When I referred to 2.30 lakh villages which did not have phones, I was not blaming Mahajan. How can I hold him responsible for the neglect over the past 50 years?"

"I was the Rural Development Minister and I talked about the poor condition of the village roads, does that mean that the BJP president Naidu was blaming the Minister Naidu?" he asked.

Regretting the "lopsided" coverage, he said, "At least you (media) should have given two lines to the Delhi pledge, which was a message to the people. Instead there were only misinterpretations and blowing up of small things."

PTI