Controversy over 'deny Narendra Modi visa' letter: Many MPs deny signing it

Senior Communist Party of IndiaMarxist CPIM leader Sitaram Yechury Wednesday said he did not sign the letter and called it a quotcut and pastequot job Mohammad Adeeb the Rajya Sabha member who had faxed the letter however maintained it was genuine DMK39s member from the Rajya Sabha KP Ramalingam CPI MP Achutan Nationalist Congress Party MPs Vandana Chavan and Sanjeev Naik and Congress MPs Marotrao Kowase Anil Lad and Jayantrao Avale have all denied signing the letter quotI deny having signed any such letterquot Yechury said Wednesday morning CPI M leader Sitaram Yechury has called the 39Deny Modi US visa39 letter a 39cut and paste39 job quotThe one circulating in cyberspace now many months after it was allegedly signed is typed on the letterhead of an MP that carries the insignia of our national symbol the Ashok Chakra The heading under which some signatures are appended says 39Names and signatures of Indian MPs39quot Yechury pointed out quotStrange which other country39s MPs would sign on the letterhead of the Indian parliament This itself suggests some efforts at cut and pastequot Yechury said quotIt is not in my nature to write to presidents of other countries telling them what they should do with the visas of Indian nationalsquot the CPIM leader said The letter carrying the signatures of many Indian parliamentarians was dispatched to both the US president and the British prime minister last year A copy of the letter was resent to the White House Tuesday after Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on a recent visit to the US asked the government there to issue a visa to Modi The letter was forwarded by Rajya Sabha39s Independent member Mohammed Adeeb who expressed shock at Yechury39s reaction quotI am shocked I don39t believe that a person like Yechury is saying something like this I have his signature His name is ninth in the list How can I paste it I am a member of parliament and I cannot do such a thing If he says that I have cheated him I will take him to courtquot Adeeb said quotI would welcome it if a probe is done Will resign from the Rajya Sabha and go to jail if signatures on the letter to Obama are forgedquot Adeeb tweeted Wednesday afternoon Earlier Adeeb said that quot40 MPs from the Rajya Sabha and 25 from the Lok Sabhaquot signed the letter which was written in November 2012 before the Gujarat assembly elections Congress leader Digvijaya Singh meanwhile said quotWe have nothing to do with it It is up to the US government to issue visa to Modiquot Adeeb said that he had on Sunday resent a letter written last year by many MPs to the US President The letter sought to know if the US government which in 2002 denied visa to Modi after the communal riots in the state had changed its policy on the issue The earlier letter was sent in 2012 said Adeeb who added that BJP chief Rajnath Singh39s lobbying in the US for a visa to Modi has triggered the issue BJP MP from Jharkhand39s Lohardaga Sudarshan Bhagat meanwhile wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar urging her for a probe into the alleged forgery The party also accused the Congress39 quotdirty tricks departmentquot of being behind the letter quotThese are serious charges and amount to forgery I have demanded that the speaker order an impartial inquiry and action should be taken against those responsiblequot he said quotThe denial by some MPs of having written to Obama shows that this is a clear conspiracy of the dirty tricks department of the Congress Some MPs have said their signatures were forged There should be a thorough probe into the matter and the guilty should be bookedquot BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said Modi was denied the US visa for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots Congress distances itself from controversy The Congress on Wednesday distanced itself from the controversy saying nothing was discussed in the party quotThe issue has not been discussed in any forum of the party nor of parliamentquot Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar told reporters who asked him about the MPs39 letter to Obama and the British prime minister quotThe nation is bigger than politicsquot he said