Chatwal denies contact with PM, Akali Dal on n-deal trust vote

Washington: Indian American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal has denied as "baseless and absurd" a purported WikiLeaks report suggesting that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was trying to win Akali Dal support during the 2008 trust vote through him.

Chatwal, chairman and CEO of Chatwal Hotels & Resorts, said on Thursday that he never went to India from June through October 2008. Nor did he have any contact on this issue with the prime minister or the Akali Dal by telephone or any other means.

"Basically I don't have interest in these stupid type of things," he said inviting anyone to check his phone or e-mail records or check with Akali Dal leaders Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal.

"I only enjoy building better relations between India and America," Chatwal said acknowledging that he did help in taking forward the India-US nuclear power deal "which is good for both the countries and we worked really hard to make sure it really happened".

Chatwal said he knew the Badals, but had nothing to do with Akali dal. Nor does he have a networking connection with the Prime Minister's Office.

"This is totally baseless, rubbish and just absurd," he said asserting the prime minister never got in touch with him on the trust vote issue.

The purported WikiLeaks cable from the US embassy said that Captain Satish Sharma "considered to be a very close family friend of Sonia Gandhi" told the US political counsellor that the Congress party was working hard to ensure that the UPA government wins the July 22 confidence vote on the India-US nuclear deal.

"Sharma said that PM Singh and others were trying to work on the Akali Dal (8 votes) through financier Sant Chatwal and others, but unfortunately it did not work out," according to the leaked cable.