'Humiliation To Country': AAP Hits Out At Centre As CM Kejriwal Likely To Miss Singapore Summit

The government also said that the Centre's intention was to stop the chief minister from speaking at the international forum.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

Source : Getty Images

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi on Thursday blamed the Centre for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not being able to visit Singapore for the World Cities Summit and said that this has brought humiliation to the country and the city, news agency PTI reported. As per the report, the file for the Centre's approval for the chief minister's visit was sent to the LG on June 7 that was returned on July 21.

"Not only there was too much delay by then but the last date of July 20 for completing the travel formalities had also passed," the Delhi government said in a statement.

The government also said that the Centre's intention was to stop the chief minister from speaking at the international forum "about world class works done in Delhi in health, education and other fields".

"Only the Central government can be held responsible for CM Arvind Kejriwal not being able to attend the World Cities Summit in Singapore and the subsequent humiliation the country has had to face," the government statement said.

"It is clear from this that the intention of the Central government was to prevent the Chief Minister from talking about the world-class work done in Delhi," the statement further said.

"The goal of the Central government may have been accomplished, but it is also responsible for the way the country has faced disgrace amongst the global community," added the statement.

Notably, earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it had received a request last week for clearance for Delhi CM's visit to Singapore, however, it is given to understand that the host government has shared some changes in its invitation with Delhi government.

Asked about the political clearance request, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "As we conveyed last week, we received an entry on our political clearance portal on July 21."

The Delhi government had directly applied to MEA for approval of Kejriwal's visit the day LG office returned the file, saying it was not befitting of a CM to attend a mayors' conference.

It is to be noted that CM Kejriwal had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking permission to attend the summit.