Narendra Modi free to apply for visa: US

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is free to apply for an American visa and a decision on it will be made according to the processes in place, a senior US official has said.

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is free to apply for an American visa and a decision on it will be made according to the processes in place, a senior US official has said.

"We said he (Modi) is free to apply for a visa, and we'll make a decision based on the process that we have in place here," state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at her daily news conference on Friday.

In 2005, the state department had revoked a visa that Modi had for travelling to the US in the wake of the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

The US has repeatedly said there is no change in its long-standing visa policy relating to Modi but he is free to apply for a visa and await a review like any other applicant.

When asked about comments made by Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi in a recent interview on 1984 riots, Harf said, "I haven't seen those comments."