Will seek political clearance from MEA for Kejriwal's Singapore visit: Deputy CM Sisodia

New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said his government will now directly approach the Ministry of External Affairs to seek political clearance for CM Arvind Kejriwal's Singapore visit, after LG V K Saxena advised to not attend the World Cities Summit there.

Saxena has 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.

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, NDMC apart from the city government.

"The LG has advised Kejriwal to not attend the conference since it is a conference of mayors. The chief ministers of other states have attended this conference in the past. Even the prime minister goes for state-related issues. This is mean politics at work. We will now approach the Ministry of External Affairs directly for political clearance and hope that they will accept our request," Sisodia said during a briefing.

Sisodia also congratulated Droupadi Murmu, who is all set to become the President of the country, after having a considerable lead over her rival Yashwant Sinha. The Aam Aadmi Party was supporting Sinha's candidature.

"I congratulate Murmu ji. Her journey has been inspiring. I hope she will rise above BJP's tactics and work for the interest of the nation," he added.