Vatican visit: LG Jung turns down KK Sharma, Jain’s OSD’s request

In another confrontation between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, the latter has rejected Chief Secretary K K Sharma and Health Minister Satyendar Jain’s OSD D S Goyal’s request to accompany Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for Mother Teresa’s 

canonization ceremony on September 4 in Vatican City. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs have, however, granted permission to Kejriwal, his OSD Bibhav Kumar and Jain to attend the ceremony while the Lieutenant Governor is said to have rejected the request of Sharma and Goyal on the ground that the two were not required to attend any official meeting in connection with the Delhi government.

As per the report, all foreign tours undertaken by the state government ministers and legislators had to be cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs earlier. 

“These are political clearances that have to be taken from the Centre. Now, the Lieutenant Governor has the power to clear these files,” said a government source, adding that, about a dozen AAP leaders will accompany Kejriwal to Vatican City on their personal expenses. Among the leaders expected to accompany the CM are party spokesperson Raghav Chaddha, Delhi Dialogue vice-chairman Asish Khaitan and poet-turned politician Kumar Vishwas.

Notably, the Vatican trip is going to be Kejriwal’s first foreign visit after he assumed charge of the Delhi government. He will also be joined by his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee. Kejriwal along with two others will be leaving Delhi on Friday and will be back on August 5. He had earlier accepted the invitation of the Missionaries of Charity, with which he had worked for two months in 1992 before joining the Indian Revenue Service.