Sitaram Yechury and Narendra Modi

New Delhi, July 24: Senior CPM leader Sitaram Yechury today denied having signed any letter urging US President Barack Obama to maintain the country’s current policy of denying visa to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, issued by the country after the 2002 Gujarat communal riots.

His statement came amid reports that he was a signatory to a letter from a group of 65 Members of Parliament to petition Obama to deny visa to Modi. This triggered a row that saw half a dozen MPs, including some from the Congress, issue denial, a controversy believed to have earned political benefits to Modi.

“It is neither in my character nor in the principles of my party to petition any sovereign country on matters that fall strictly within the sovereign domain of that country,” Yechury said, stressing: “I deny having signed any such letter.”

The CPM leader issued the denial in the morning and by late afternoon over half a dozen MPs followed suit and denied or said that they did n’t remember having signed such a letter. Yechury was joined by MP Achutan (CPI), Congress’ Pradip Bhattacharya, Marotrao Kowase, Jayantrao Avale and Anil Lad, DMK’s K.P. Ramalingam and NCP’s Vandana Chavan and Sanjeev Naik.

The initiative to collect the signatures of the MPs was taken up about six months ago by an Independent Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, Md Adeeb, when there were reports that the US was planning to change the visa restrictions on Modi. The letter was reportedly sent six months ago and resent again recently to coincide with BJP president Rajnath Singh’s visit to the US, which he used to lobby for lifting of visa restrictions on Modi.

“The signatures were collected six months ago. Before resending the letter, it would have been better if the MPs had been contacted again,” said JD(U) MP Ali Anwar, who was one of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs who had signed the letter.

Anwar, however, said he stood by the letter and wondered why some MPs were issuing denials. “Human rights violations cannot be restricted by boundaries of states and countries. Those, who say that MPs should not petition a foreign country, are wrong,” Anwar said, and demanded the US should not grant visa to Modi for his role in the 2002 riots.

Yechury did not allege that his signature was forged but suggested “cut and paste”. “The heading under which some signatures are appended says, ‘Names and Signatures of Indian MPs’. Strange. Which other country’s MPs would sign on the letterhead of the Indian Parliament? This, itself, suggests some efforts at cut and paste,” he said, suggesting he may have signed for something else and that signature was used with the letter sent to Obama.

A Rajya Sabha MP said MPs kept on signing a number of petitions without going into the details and now when the matter had kicked up a row, they wanted to run away.

BJP’s Lohardagga MP Sudarashan Bhagat today wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar demanding a probe.

Md Adeeb strongly denied Yechury’s “cut and paste” theory and expressed shock over the denial. “I am shocked. I don’t believe that a person like Yechury can say something like this. I have his signature. How can I paste it? I am a MP and I cannot do such a thing. If he thinks I have cheated him, I will take him to court,” Adeeb told a news channel.

Adeeb said Yechury might have forgotten as the letter was months old. “This is a letter that he signed in November 2012. His name is there,” he said and added: “He had full right to write a letter to the US President.”

Congress Lok Sabha MP Marotrao Sainuji Kowase, too, said he had no knowledge about having signed any such letter. “I don’t know how my signature appeared in the letter. I learnt about it from the media,” he said.

Twenty-five Lok Sabha MPs and 40 Rajya Sabha MPs had signed the letter on two letterheads.