NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday attacked the Centre for not allowing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the C40 Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kejriwal was scheduled to leave for the summit at 2 pm on Tuesday, but could not take the flight as the Ministry of External Affairs denied him the political clearance to attend the meeting.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh termed the Centre’s decision “unfortunate”.“Kejriwal was not going on a vacation but to tell the world how Delhi managed to reduce its air pollution by over 25% through its schemes like Odd-Even. What will people think about how our federal structure works? Why is there so much anger against us from the Centre?” said Singh.
Singh said the Centre’s decision will “affect India’s image on the global stage and send a wrong message in the international community”. Kejriwal was to lead an eight-member delegation for the summit, slated to begin on October 9 and end on October 12. Singh pointed out that the MEA had given clearance to West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim for a similar international visit.
In response to media query over Kejriwal’s visit to Denmark, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, last week, had said, “The decision takes into account the nature of the event, the level of participation from other countries and also the kind of invitation that is extended.”