New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday (April 21, 2004) said many countries have people of foreign origin as their heads but there is no such necessity in India.

"In many countries, people of foreign origin are Heads of State. They have been willingly put in that position. If they do not have any objection, it is their issue. But there is no such need in our country. That's why the people are opposing it," he told DD news channel in an interview.

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Apparently having in mind Congress president Sonia Gandhi's sharp reaction to raising of her foreign origin issue in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls, Vajpayee said mere mention of the matter should not provoke certain people.

Asked by DD news channel whether the Government planned to bring a law debarring people of foreign origin from holding key Constitutional posts and whether it was National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s main agenda, Vajpayee said, "This issue is one of the issue which figures in our manifesto but it should not be given too much importance."

He pointed out that he had suggested a serious debate on the issue in a composed atmosphere.