New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel Friday denied “any closeness” to Narendra Modi and said he would leave public life if it could be proved that he had visited the Gujarat chief minister’s house or office.
Patel was reacting to revelations that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Modi, in an edited out portion of his interview to state-run Doordarshan, had referred to Patel as a “good friend who’s stopped taking calls”.
With TV channels telecasting the edited out portion of Modi, Patel told reporters: “I totally deny any closeness to a man who is set to divide India.”
“I will leave public life if Modi can prove I have gone to his house or office since he became chief minister (of Gujarat). How can a man who doesn’t have friends in his own party claim friendship with me,” Patel added.
Patel said he had never visited Modi’s house or office or asked him for any favour.
Modi in the edited out portion of the interview had referred to Patel as a “good friend”.
“Ahmedbhai is among the best friends I have in Congress but not now… I had a good friendship with him and would have preferred that it had remained so… but he now runs away from me and doesn’t take my calls,” Modi said in the interview.
Modi said they had even dined at each other’s house.
Modi’s office later released the unedited version of the interview.