Washington: US President called prime ministerial candidate and Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi today to congratulate him on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s success in India’s historic election.”Ending a decade long US boycott of Modi, Obama invited Narendra Modi to visit Washington to further strengthen our bilateral relationship.
The President noted he looks forward to working closely with Modi to fulfill the extraordinary promise of the US-India strategic partnership, and they agreed to continue expanding and deepening the wide-ranging cooperation between our two democracies.
Meanwhile, a statement given by the State Department aimed at setting at rest the issue of a visa for Modi, said, The Prime Minister of India will be welcomed to the United States. As head of government, Mr Modi would be eligible for an A-1 visa.
We congratulate Narendra Modi and the BJP on its victory in winning a majority of seats in India’s historic national election, which saw more voters cast their ballots freely and fairly than in any election in human history, department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement.
As President Obama said in his statement on May 12, we also congratulate the people of India on concluding their national elections and look forward to continuing our strong partnership based on shared values,” Psaki said.
Soon after the call, National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrote on the microblogging website Twitter that the US looks forward to working with India to continue to build a strong partnership between the two largest democracies of the world.
In 2005, the US State Department had revoked a visa that Modi had for travelling to the US on the ground of alleged human rights violations after the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Bureau Report
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