US President Donald Trump has turned down the Indian government’s invite to visit India on the occasion of Republic Day, Times of India reported Saturday.
The refusal was conveyed in the form of a letter from US authorities to NSA Ajit Doval recently, the report said.
The letter is said to have comprised a regret message from Trump. The US president’s domestic commitments, notably his State of the Union (SOTU) address, around that time of the year are apparently the reason for Trump not accepting India’s invite.
Trump’s response though is in sharp contrast to the one from his predecessor Barack Obama who, despite faced with the same domestic presidential obligations in 2015, agreed to visit India as Republic Day chief guest.
It was first reported on July 13 that India had officially invited Trump for Republic Day. While the US had confirmed the invite, it had said that the final decision would be taken after the inaugural 2+2 dialogue in September.
India-US ties have been under a lot of strain lately because of differences over India’s defence purchases from Russia and also its oil imports from Iran.
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