A PROMINENT Labour councillor has denied urging fellow Asian councillors to put their race before their political beliefs when voting.

Deputy leader of Harrow Council, Councillor Sanjay Dighe came under fire from irate Conservatives after his controversial letter to the Asian Voice newspaper.

In the letter, published last Saturday, Councillor Dighe appeared to criticise three Conservative councillors of Gujarati extraction for voting with their party instead of backing the Leader of the Council, Councillor Navin Shah's bid to win a seat on the Association of London Government's (ALG) committee.

Councillor Dighe wrote: "The first Gujarati Council Leader in Britain cannot do what every other Council Leader does because all three Gujarati Conservatives voted against him.

"The Conservatives and Liberals always tell you It doesn't matter which party we are standing for, we are all Asians'. Next time, ask them why they voted to stop the first Asian Leader of Harrow Council from representing his borough."

The letter sparked a full-scale race row, with the Leader of the Conservative group, Councillor Chris Mote branding Councillor Dighe "patronising and disgusting".

Councillor Mote, who was voted onto the ALG at Councillor Shah's expense, said: "My Conservative colleagues, of all backgrounds, voted for me because they used their political judgement. Race does not come into it, and should not. To imply that councillors should back an individual because of his racial background is worse than patronising, it's disgusting.

"Labour has at last shown its true colours. They are not interested in the multi-cultural borough of Harrow. Rather they wish to re-inforce the worst kind of racial pigeon-holing."

The Asian Conservative councillors at the centre of the storm were equally angry.

Councillor Manji Kara (Belmont ward) said: "He is an idiot. Comments like this are an open invitation to the British National Party to make a similar demand for votes from white voters. You should not demand votes from anyone. I'm an Asian, and Gujarati, but I don't expect them all to vote for me."

Councillor Vina Mithani (Kenton West) said: "I would rather support my own colleague than someone else just because they happen to be Asian."

However, in a startling volte-face, Councillor Dighe denied encouraging Asians to vote as one, claiming the newspaper had "misrepresented" his views.

He said: "When you vote, it should be for the party and the policy. The race of the candidate should not matter. I want to be clear about that. I apologise if I gave the opposite impression and will be writing to the editor of Asian Voice to clarify this."