New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia will not be accompanying US First Lady Melania Trump when she visits a Delhi government school on Tuesday, sources in the Aam Aadmi Party said.
Melania, who is arriving in India on February 24 as part of President Donald Trump’s official visit, will interact with students and observe a “happiness class” at a school in south Delhi on Tuesday.
It was earlier reported that Kejriwal and Sisodia would give the First Lady a tour of the school and brief her about the unique "happiness curriculum" introduced by the Arvind Kejriwal government, which romped home to majority for the second time this month.
Introduced by the Delhi government in July 2018, the curriculum dictates that students studying in classes 1-8 at Delhi government schools have to spend 45 minutes each day to attend "Happiness Classes" where they participate in exercises such as storytelling, meditation and question and answer sessions. Similarly, for nursery and KG students, the classes are held twice a week.
No official statement has been issued yet on the reasons behind Kejriwal and Sisodia being dropped from the visit.
The BJP, however, said the issue must not be politicised. “We just want to say that we should not do petty politics on this… We don’t influence the US on who to invite or not,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
Donald Trump, his wife Melania and a high-level delegation, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, will arrive in Ahmedabad at around noon on February 24. Their trip will last for a little less than 36 hours.
From Ahmedabad, they will travel to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal before arriving to Delhi for the main leg of the visit.
In Ahmedabad, President Trump will address the 'Namaste Trump' event jointly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the newly built Motera Cricket Stadium. After the event, the US President and the First Lady will visit Agra, where they will spend about an hour at the Taj Mahal before the sunset. President Trump will then depart for Delhi.
On the morning of February 25, Trump and Melania will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. From there, they will go to Rajghat to pay homage at the 'samadhi' of Mahatma Gandhi.
This shall be followed by restricted delegation-level talks between Trump and Modi at Hyderabad House.
After the talks, Modi will host a lunch for the US President. In the afternoon, Trump is expected to attend certain private events at the US Embassy, including a private round table discussion with industry representatives.
In the evening, the Trump will meet President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A banquet will be hosted by Kovind and the US President will depart from India later that evening.
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