The Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday reacted sharply to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s allegation that the disputed Sir Creek was being handed over to Pakistan, calling it “baseless and mischievous.”

Modi made the claim about the disputed strip of water body in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the eve of the Gujarat Assembly polls, but the PMO lost no time to debunk it.

“Allegation in the letter that Sir Creek is about to be given to Pakistan is untrue... The other conclusions drawn by Modi are also not real,” the PMO said in response to Modi’s letter.

Raising questions over the timing of the letter, the PMO said: “The contents of the letter and the timing of its release to the public raise questions about the motives behind its issue...The writing and release of this baseless letter by the Gujarat chief minister in his personal capacity, a day before the elections, is mischievous.”

Finance Minister P Chidambaram termed Modi’s claim “ridiculous”.