AHMEDABAD: Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia has sent a formal invite to his Gujarat counterpart Jitu Vaghani asking him to visit a government school in Delhi, a day after challenging him to an open debate about the education system, a Gujarat AAP leader said here on Saturday.
A delegation of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members visited the state Secretariat during the day to meet Vaghani and hand over the invitation letter, but was told that the minister was not available in his office. The party said it will make another attempt on Monday next week to meet the minister and hand over the invite.
Speaking to reporters here, Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia said Sisodia had invited Vaghani, other BJP leaders, ministers and MLAs to visit any school in any of the 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi with full protocol.
The Delhi minister had challenged Vaghani to a public debate on education, but the latter did not accept the challenge, Italia said. "We took the BJP's opposition regarding education positively, and Sisodia threw an open challenge for a debate, so that people of the country could know what the two governments were doing in the field of education," the AAP leader said.
Unfortunately, or rather expectedly, Vaghani did not accept the challenge, he said. "We are still looking forward to the debate, and hence, Sisodiya has sent a formal invitation for Vaghani to visit government schools in Delhi with full honour and protocol," he said.
The invitation comes a day after the two parties sparred on Twitter about the performance of the two states in the field of education.
Official Twitter handle of Gujarat BJP - BJP4Gujarat - came out with a series of tweets criticising the policies of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi. Sisodia tweeted, challenging Vaghani for a debate on the education system in Gujarat and Delhi "at the place and time of his choice".
In his response, Vaghani said that the BJP respects election results, and there are many open grounds (for debate) in a democracy. "Whatever they have to say, they should put it before the people of Gujarat. Let us see if people believe them or not. Campaigns built on lies are exposed here," Vaghani had said.