 "Arvind Kejriwal")
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has rejected the AAP government's proposal for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Singapore visit to attend a summit on August 1, saying his attendance at the mayors' conference will set a "bad precedent".
Lieutenant Governor Saxena advised Kejriwal to not attend the World Cities Summit in Singapore next month since it is a conference of mayors and won't be befitting for a chief minister to attend it, official sources said on Thursday.
Kejriwal, replying to LG's refusal to his visit, said in a note shared by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Twitter that even Prime Minister would not be able to go anywhere if a decision on visits by each constitutional authority is taken on the basis of what subjects fall within their jurisdiction.
Reacting to the development as "mean politics", Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Delhi government will now directly approach the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to seek political clearance for Kejriwal's Singapore visit.
Officials said chief minister's foreign visit requires administrative nod of LG as well as approval by the MEA.
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This is the second time Kejriwal has been denied a foreign visit to participate in an international event. Earlier, the MEA had denied him permission to attend Copenhagen C40 World Mayors' Summit in Denmark in 2019. He had, however, addressed it through video conferencing.
Sources said Saxena has returned the proposal regarding the foreign visit of Kejriwal while noting that the conference will be covering different aspects of urban governance, which are addressed by diverse bodies like the MCD, DDA and NDMC, apart from the city government.
The LG said the Delhi government does not have exclusive domain over the issues and it will be inappropriate for a chief minister to attend it, sources said.
Saxena has also noted that a chief minister attending such a conference will set a "bad precedent", they said.
After a careful study of the forum and profile of participants and its subject, the LG pointed the summit will cover different aspects of governance that are looked after by NDMC, MCD, DDA and the city government in Delhi, they said.
The LG has underlined the fact that Delhi government does not have exclusive domain over the issues corresponding with the theme of the conference and hence it will be inappropriate for a chief minister to be attending the same, sources said.
According to sources, referring to WCS Smart City workshop being organised as part of the conference, it has been pointed that the Smart City Project in Delhi is being anchored by the NDMC.
Kejriwal had last Sunday written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking permission to be allowed to participate in the summit, saying he will present Delhi Model of governance there bringing glory to the country.
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 file for chief minister's Singapore visit was sent to LG on June 7, officials said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
