NEW DELHI, July 1: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee today denied that he met United States Ambassador Frank Wisner on the Prithvi deployment issue as alleged by Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Objecting to Yadav's criticism of the meeting, Vajpayee pointed out that it was no more than a routine courtesy call. He said such a meeting with the outgoing Ambassador gave both sides an opportunity to state their respective viewpoints on important issues.``Neither did I disclose any state secret nor did the American Ambassador reveal anything confidential,'' the BJP leader said in a statement.

He termed the Defence Minister's criticism unfortunate and said that after four decades in Parliament and with reasonable exposure to external affairs, he was aware of how to interact with foreign dignitaries.

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