A controversy erupted over a claim that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange endorsed Narendra Modi as \"incorruptible\" even as the whistle-blower website disclosed a secret cable by a senior US diplomat eight years ago that described him as a \"distrustful person\" who reigns more by \"fear and intimidation\". <\/p>\n
The website while denying in a series of tweets that it had called the Gujarat Chief Minister \"incorruptible\" tweeted details of a number of observations made by the then Mumbai-based Consul General Michael S Owen on Modi's leadership in a cable after his visit to the state in 2006. <\/p>\n
\"No WikiLeaks document say #Modi is 'incorruptable', rather he is popular because 'viewed' as 'incorruptable',\" WikiLeaks said. <\/p>\n
Wikileaks said the term \"incorruptible\" was apparently used by a Gujarat Congress leader Manoharsinh Jadeja. <\/p>\n
\"The Narendra #Modi \"incorruptable\" quote comes from Rajkot Congress party leader Manoharsinh Jadeja,\" it said. <\/p>\n
In another tweet, WikiLeaks accused BJP of using the \"fake Assange-Modi endorsement\" to raise funds. <\/p>\n
The website today accused Priti Gandhi, Co-Convener of Maharashtra BJP Communication Cell, of pushing the \"fake endorsement\" by WikiLeaks. <\/p>\n
Its clarification came against the backdrop of some BJP supporters circulating posters in Ahmedabad quoting Assange, saying that \"America is scared of Modi because he is incorruptible.\" <\/p>\n
BJP, however, downplayed the WikiLeaks tweets. \"We don't need a certificate from WikiLeaks or Assange on Modiji,\" BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said. <\/p>\n
WikiLeaks went on to tweet a secret cable sent by the US Embassy in 2006 which criticised Modi's style of functioning. <\/p>\n
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