New Delhi, Jul 24 (IANS): Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury Wednesday denied signing any letter seeking denial of US visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and said the letter in circulation was a "cut and paste" work.
"I deny having signed any such letter," Yechury said.
"The 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: 'names and signatures of Indian MPs'," Yechury pointed out.
"Strange, which other country's MPs would sign on the letterhead of the Indian parliament? This itself suggests some efforts at cut and paste," Yechury said.
"It is not in my nature to write to presidents of other countries telling them what they should do with the visas of Indian nationals," the CPI-M leader added.
The letter carrying signatures of several 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 visit to the US, asked the government there to issue a visa to Modi.
The letter was forwarded by Rajya Sabha Independent member Mohammed Adeeb, who expressed shock at Yechury's reaction.
"I am shocked. I don't 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, I have cheated him, I will take him to court," Adeeb said.
Earlier, Adeeb said that "40 MPs from the Rajya Sabha and 25 from the Lok Sabha" signed the letter which was written in November 2012 before the Gujarat assembly elections."
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, meanwhile, said: "We have nothing to do with it. It is up to the US government to issue visa to Modi."