Date: 21 Jun 2008 Source: The Economic Times URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articlesh...
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minster Narendra Modi may participate in the second World Gujarati Conference organised by The Association of Indian Americans in North America (AAINA) in the US. "AAINA will extend an invitation to Gujarat Chief Minister for one of the kind function. Our aim is to unite the spirit of Gujarat," AAINA President Sunil Nayak told reporters on Saturday. Nayak refused to speculate on weather Modi, who was denied visa to travel to the US in 2005 due to the 2002 Godhra riots, will make a fresh application for US visa for attending the meet. "We will invite the Chief Minister. But it is up to him to decide further course of action," Nayak said. "The numbers of Gujarati community is not so big in the US and that is the reason we were not able to influence that country's administration to reconsider their decision of denying visa (to Modi)," Naik said in reply to a question on why the influential Gujarati community in the US had failed to convince the US government to grant visa to Modi. "When we received the news that the US embassy has denied the visa to Gujarat chief minister in 2005, we were shocked," Nayak said. AAINA will also request Modi to address the conference via videoconferencing, he said.
|