Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the government over its delay in permitting him to visit Singapore to attend the World Cities Summit. The Aam Aadmi Party chief attributed “political reasons” to the delay, noting that he had been specially invited to the event by the Singapore government and intended to present the Delhi Model before world leaders. Meanwhile, AAP MPs marked the commencement of the Monsoon session of Parliament with a protest in the national capital over the delay.
“I am not a criminal, I am a chief minister and a free citizen of the country. There was no legal basis to stop me from visiting Singapore so there appears to be a political reason behind this…I am an elected MLA. I don’t understand why am I being stopped. Singapore government has called me to tell them about Delhi model- growth of services in health and schools. This will promote the country on an international level,” Kejriwal said today.
A day earlier he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to expediate the permission process. “It was nearly five weeks ago, on June 7, that I had written a letter seeking permission to go to Singapore but I haven’t received a reply. It is not right to stop the chief minister of any state from visiting such an important event,” read the letter written in Hindi.
High Commissioner of Singapore Simon Wong had in June invited Kejriwal to World Cities Summit 2022 to be held in the first week of August. The Delhi chief minister has been asked to attend a programme on the first day. According to reports quoting sources, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has not yet approved the file on Kejriwal’s Singapore visit.
“PM Modi does not want Kejriwal to discuss Delhi Model in front of the world. This fight is between Modi’s ‘fake model’ and Kejriwal ji’s ‘real model’,” alleged AAP MP Sanjay Singh.
