R.P.N. Singh refuses to comment on Modi visa controversy

Minister of State for Home R.P.N. Singh on Wednesday avoided commenting on the ongoing controversy surrounding the granting of US visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has several important works to do.

"I don't want to comment on this. I have several important works to do. It is for America to decide as to whom they want to issue the visa or not," he told the media here.

In a new twist in the controversy over Modi's US visa, several lawmakers, including senior CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, have denied signing any such letter seeking denial of US visa for the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Adeeb, today expressed surprise on Yechury's retraction, and said that he was ready for any inquiry to take place on the concerned subject.

"Sitaram Yechuryji has signed on the paper where the whole substance is closed and now is name is there. So, I welcome any inquiry. This is the letter addressed to President. The subject is also mentioned on top of it. Can you expect from any Member of Parliament that he will write his name and signature without reading it, without understanding it?" asked Adeeb.

"If a Member of Parliament says that no I don't know the subject then I am ashamed I feel sorry for the Member of Parliament. The fact of the matter is each and everyone has gone through the letter, agreed and then signed it," he added.

Yechury earlier denied having signed any letter seeking denial of US visa for Modi, saying it suggested a 'cut and paste' job.

The controversy over letters written to US President Barack Obama by 65 Members of Parliament, urging him to maintain the current policy of denying visa to Modi, has intensified with several other lawmakers now claiming that their signatures were forged.

DMK MP K.P. Ramalingam has also denied signing any letter to the US President against granting a visa to Modi.

The letter is reportedly aimed at stultifying the effort of BJP President Rajnath Singh, who is in the US, to persuade Washington to lift the ban on Modi's travel.

The US administration had imposed the visa ban on Modi, who was recently made the campaign-in-charge for the BJP, after the 2002 post-Godhra riots.