New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) After a news magazine quoted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj as blaming party colleague Arun Jaitley for making Reddy brothers ministers in Karnataka, former party president Rajnath Singh Saturday attempted to paper over the rift, taking responsibility for the episode.

"My consent was there. After that, the decision was taken," he said referring to making the Reddy brothers ministers in Karnataka despite their allged involvement in mining scam.

"To say that Sushmaji or Arunji is responsible for this, I don't think it is right because whatever happened, I was the president then. It happened with my consent," he said.

"If someone wants to fix responsibility, they can fix the responsibility on me. I don't hold Sushmaji and Arunji responsible for it. There were some political compulsions that we had to take this decision (of makig them ministers)."

"For the first time, the BJP government was being formed in south and the party received full-fledged majority. We also wanted that a stable government is formed, which should be Karnataka people-friendly, and should be able to develop Karnataka," he said.

The Reddy brothers - Janardhan, Karunakar and Somasekhar, also known as "Bellary brothers" - have been allegedly involved in a multi-million mining scam in the state.

Swaraj, in an interview to a news magazine, denied being their mentor and shifted the accountability to Arun Jaitley, who was the state in-charge at the time, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and the then central observers from the party, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar.

"There cannot be a bigger lie. Let me tell you the truth, I have no hand in the political making of the Bellary brothers. I had nothing to do in making them ministers or building their stature as political leaders," Swaraj said in her interview to Outlook magazine.