Obama wanted to talk, I couldn’t: PM

The PM says that US President-elect Barack Obama wanted to talk to him on Nov 8 but they could not establish contact because the time suggested was too short for him, reports Tushar Srivastava.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to clear confusion and squash murmurs that the US President-elect Barack Obama had telephoned other world leaders but ignored India.

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“No, this is not true…Obama wanted to talk to me day before yesterday but we could not establish contact because the time that was suggested was too short for me to interact. Since then I have been traveling for the last two days.” The PM added that he would talk to Obama “when I go back”.

The Prime Minister said Obama had written a “very warm” letter even before he was elected President. “I had myself written a warm letter to him,” he said.

“I received a very warm and detailed letter from him spelling out his approach to India, his approach to international affairs. Therefore, I have every reason to believe that India’s relations with the US under President Obama will become stronger than ever before,” Singh said.

The PM said he had received immediate acknowledgement of the condolence message he had sent to Obama on the death of his grandmother. “I also condoled his grandmother’s death and he immediately acknowledged that letter,” the PM said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh avoided a direct reply when asked whether he was satisfied with the Maharashtra government’s handling of the recent attacks on north Indians. “I do not wish to comment on internal matters while I am abroad. This would not be proper on my part,” Singh said.