Controversy over letters by MPs to Barack Obama against Modi visa

Washington: BJP President Rajnath Singh  has said he will use his visit to the US to lobby against America's ban on a visa for  Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi

To counter that effort, letters signed by Indian MPs against Mr Modi late last year were reportedly re-faxed to the White House on Sunday, triggering a new political firestorm in Delhi.

"People who wrote to Obama about Modi are ones who run away from real issues. How can they write to US about own CM?" tweeted Shahnawaz Hussain of the BJP.

Mohammed Adeeb, an Independent MP from Rajya Sabha, who took the initiative for this campaign, said one letter sent to the White House was signed by 40 Lok Sabha MPs and the other by 25 Rajya Sabha members.

The latter includes the signature of Sitaram Yechury of the CPI; however, he told NDTV that this appears to have been "a cut and paste job."

He added, "I would be the last person to write to the US Administration and to do something like this. We don't want anyone to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. These are issues which will have to be settled in India politically."

But Ali Anwar of the Janata Dal United argued, "Yes, I have signed on the letter to Obama about Modi's visa. What is wrong in it?"

In 2005, the US turned down a visa for Mr Modi, citing "violation of religious freedom" and the communal riots of 2002 in Gujarat, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.