Arvind Kejriwal keen on Singapore summit trip despite L-G no

Delhi CM to approach MEA for clearance

The political fracas over permission for Arvind Kejriwal to attend a summit in Singapore intensified with Central government-appointed L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena advising the Delhi Chief Minister not to go for the July 31-August 3 event and the latter insisting the trip is on.

The L-G said in a file noting to the Delhi government that prima facie the World Cities Summit appears to be a conference for Mayors of different cities and subjects that will be discussed there do not fall under the exclusive domain of the Delhi government.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit back terming it “dirty politics”, with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia saying the Chief Minister does not approve of the L-G’s advice and would apply to the Ministry of External Affairs for political clearance to attend the summit. “We will go ahead with the visit. Kindly apply for political clearance from the Central government,” Mr. Kejriwal said in an official note shared by AAP on social media.

Joining issue on the L-G’s domain point, the Chief Minister said a “funny situation” would arise were the visits of each Constitutional authority to be decided on the basis of what subjects fall within the jurisdiction of that authority. “The Prime Minister would not be able to go anywhere if the list of subjects were to be stuck to, because in most of his visits, he also discusses subjects which fall in the State list and do not fall in his jurisdiction,” he said.

He added that no Chief Minister would ever be able to make any visit anywhere in the world if the Delhi L-G’s criteria were to be adhered to. Several Chief Ministers and Ministers from various countries including India have attended the summit earlier, Mr. Kejriwal said, citing the example of then Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu in 2018.

The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party attacked Mr. Kejriwal over his comments, harking back to his statement last year about a new COVID-19 variant spreading from Singapore. Delhi unit spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it had badly damaged India’s relations with the city-state. “It’s really strange that he is today so anxious to go to the same Singapore,” he said.

The Singapore trip clearance has been hanging for a while with Mr. Kejriwal writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about it on June 7 and expressing displeasure last Sunday over the Centre’s delay. The file was routed through the L-G.