Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia will reportedly not be accompanying US First Lady Melania Trump on her visit to a Delhi government school on Tuesday to watch the “happiness curriculum”.
US President Donald Trump’s wife Melania is likely to visit the Delhi government school in south Delhi and see first-hand the impact of the ‘happiness curriculum’ introduced by Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
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Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had introduced the happiness curriculum in the Delhi government schools two years ago as an attempt to reduce stress among school children, which involves 40 minutes of meditation, relaxing and even outdoor activities.
However, according to AAP sources, Kejriwal and Sisodia’s names have been dropped from the event by the Central government.
Earlier it was reported that both the leaders will attend the programme since the school comes under the Delhi government.
It was also reported that Melania Trump will be received by Arvind Kejriwal, who was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the third time on February 15 along with Manish Sisodia.
Taking on the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre, AAP’s National Executive member Preeti Sharma Menon in a tweet responded to the media reports.
She said: “There is no match for the pettiness of Narendra Modi. You may not invite Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, but their work speaks for them.”
However, AAP Minister Gopal Rai during a press conference said that he has no knowledge of the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister being dropped from the guest list of Melania Trump visit to a government school.
“We have not received any official information on the same. And till the time we don’t receive any official information regarding the same, we are not in a position to comment on it,” Rai said.
Meanwhile, reacting on the comments of AAP on the matter, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “petty politics should not be played on important occasions”.
“Indian government doesn’t advise the USA to whom to invite and whom to not. So, we don’t want to get into this ‘tu tu main main’ (squabbling),” he said.
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 24 and 25. The US first couple will spend the first day of the trip in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and Uttar Pradesh’s Agra before moving to Delhi for official reception and bilateral talks.
In Ahmedabad, President Trump will address the ‘Namaste Trump’ event jointly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the newly built Motera cricket stadium. After the event, the US President and the First Lady will visit Agra, where they will spend about an hour at the Taj Mahal before the sunset. President Trump will then depart for Delhi.
On the morning of February 25, Trump and the First Lady will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
From there, they will go to Rajghat to pay homage at the ‘samadhi’ of Mahatma Gandhi.
It will be followed by restricted and delegation-level talks between Trump and Modi at Hyderabad House.
Prime Minister Modi will host a lunch for the US president following the talks.
In the afternoon, Trump is expected to attend certain private events at the US Embassy, including a private roundtable with industry representatives.
In the evening, the US president will meet President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A banquet will be hosted by Kovind and President Trump will depart from India later that evening.
This is Donald Trump’s first state visit to India and also a first standalone visit by a US President to India.