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"Your report, 'Asleep at the Wheel', is in bad taste," the letter, written by Ashok Tandon, the prime minister's spokesman, said.
"Mr Vajpayee has been in command for more than four years and his ability to control the country's nuclear capability has never been questioned," Tandon wrote in the letter, which was published by Time in its latest issue.
The letter said the PMO had taken "strong exception" to the report as it was "designed to tarnish" Vajpayee's image.
"His bladder and liver are perfectly normal and he has an average cholesterol level," the letter said. "He does not take alcoholic drinks."
"Comments such as 'He takes a three-hour snooze every afternoon on doctor's orders and is given to interminable silences, indecipherable ramblings and not infrequently falling asleep in meetings' are baseless," it said.
It added that those who were familiar with the rigour of Indian politics and its marathon Parliament sessions could vouch for his fitness.
"A post-lunch siesta is nothing unusual. However the prime minister's punishing schedule keeps him busy from morning to late at night with a short break after lunch," Tandon wrote.
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