Himalayan News Service

New Delhi/Ahmedabad, March 25:

Security risk cited as reason for the move.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s office today clarified that he did not ask Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to cancel his trip to Britain, but it was home minister Shivraj Patil who informed him of a security risk. The prime minister’s office said it was Modi who called Manmohan Singh to inform him of his decision to cancel the tour, following advice from home minister Shivraj Patil. “The home minister spoke to Modi and informed him that because his visit to Britain was private, the government there would not provide any official security, so there may be a problem,” the prime minister’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru said.

“Then Modi called the prime minister and informed him of his decision to cancel his visit.” Asked whether there were any threats from terror outfits, Baru said: “Not that we know of.” However, the prime minister had spoken to Bharatiya Janata Party president LK Advani on the issue earlier. Yesterday, Modi announced the cancellation of his three-day visit to Britain that was scheduled to begin today. According to the schedule, Modi was to leave for London this evening, attend “Gujarat Day” celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow and address expatriate investors on Sunday before returning to Gujarat on Monday. However, the upcoming visit sparked protests from various organisations. Hailing the US denial of a visa to Modi, two Britain-based voluntary organisations announced a protest to keep up the momentum against Modi. The British mission said while it would not follow the American move to deny Modi a visa, it would maintain no official contact with him or his administration on account of “what happened in Gujarat”. The cancellation of the visit is being seen as a face-saving move for Modi, especially since Britain had indicated that Modi’s visit was to be treated as personal and he was to have no protocol cover during the trip.