Saturday, March 5 2005 11:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gujarat A K Patel, who accused Chief Minister Narendra Modi of having the phones of ruling party and Opposition lawmakers tapped, yesterday (Mar 4, 2005) said that he meant what he told party president L K Advani.

The MP, who was on his way to Ahmedabad from New Delhi, said via telephone, "I meant what I had told party president L K Advani. "I am a responsible man and I mean what I say," said the MP from Mehsana in Gujarat.

Patel declined to respond when asked to comment on Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah's comment, "Patel's allegations are political and the party would deal with it."

A senior Gujarat BJP leader known for his outspokenness, Patel had given a letter to Advani on February 26 that "Modi was a man of autocratic behaviour and full of vengeance".

Patel also wrote in the letter that the State Government had tapped phone calls of ruling party MLAs and MPs including deceased finance Minister Haren Pandya and Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela.

The Opposition Congress raised the phone-tapping issue in the State Assembly and staged a walkout.

Leader of the Opposition Arjun Modhvadia later showed reporters a copy of Patel's controversial letter given to Advani and mentioned all the points written in it including the "autocratic rule of Modi and the SIM card cloning".

Incidentally, it was at Patel's farm house during his birthday celebrations that rebel MLAs had met and Purshottam Solanki (MLA from Gogha in Bhavnagar) had called Modi a 'Hitler'.