New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS): Amid a debate within the Congress about its performance during 10 years of UPA rule over Rajya Sabha members close to Rahul Gandhi have asked for introspection, former Union minister Manish Tewari on Sunday again defended interim party chief Sonia Gandhi and ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attacked the BJP and termed it as "Shakuni".

Tewari who is in his constituency of Anandpur Sahib said in a tweet, "Unfortunately UPA could not surmount sinister conspiracies against it for it was/is led by two genteel & decent souls SG & MMS in a world where Shakunis populate/d the adversary space."

When IANS contacted Tewari about his "Shakuni" comment he said BJP led the sinister campaign against the then UPA government.

Tewari hinted that the sinister campaign was 2G and coal block allocation issue in which BJP alleged corruption citing CAG reports, which led to the defeat of UPA in 2014 polls.

Tewari said that achievement of the UPA government can be seen in the PMO archives and the government has done a lot in RTI, RTE, MNREGA, Food Security and other developmental work.

The spat within the Congress was sparked after a meeting of Rajya Sabha MPs chaired by Sonia Gandhi where Rajiv Satav raised the issue of intersection which was countered by the veterans, sources said.

Even as the veterans against Team Rahul war within the Congress is out in the open, former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, Tewari and Milind Deora, rallied behind Manmohan Singh, saying the UPA's transformative 10 years were distorted and traduced by a motivated and malicious narrative.

Anand Sharma, Tharoor, Tewari and former Mumbai Congress chief Deora - all ministers in Singh's Cabinet at one point - defended the former Prime Minister, tagging criticism of him as "ill-informed" and part of a "motivated and malicious narrative".