India, March 31 -- The BJP's Nishikant Dubey on Monday refuted allegations that he disrespected Biju Patnaik, asserting that he always held the former Odisha chief minister in high regard, as political leaders from the State hit back at the MP.

Dubey, in a statement on March 27, had claimed that Patnaik was the link between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the (US spy agency) CIA during the war against China in the 1960s.

"There has never been any lack of respect for Biju Patnaik. When the Congress treated Biju Babu unjustly, it was the Jana Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party that stood by him. What I said that day, and what I repeat again today, is that I am running a continuous series exposing the deeds of the Nehru-Gandhi...