Fadnavis misses Obama dinner as invite doesn't reach him on time, calls for probe

Devendra Fadnavis, who was among the few chief ministers and 250 of the county’s elite to be invited to the dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in honour of US President Barack Obama on Sunday night, missed the exclusive event because some goof-up resulted in him not getting the invitation on time.

Devendra Fadnavis, who was among the few chief ministers and 250 of the county’s elite to be invited to the dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in honour of US President Barack Obama on Sunday night, missed the exclusive event because some goof-up resulted in him not getting the invitation on time.

To make up for this miss, Fadnavis and his wife, Amruta, were invited to the high tea with Obama at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday. The dinner though was clearly the more exclusive event and a missed opportunity for the young chief minister.

An irked Fadnavis has called for a probe, with the new resident commissioner of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi, Abha Shukla, told to inquire into the issue.

It has been learnt that while the invite did reach Shukla’s office, it was not communicated in time to Fadnavis, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos. Fadnavis flew back to Mumbai from Zurich on Sunday and could have landed in Delhi for the event. “I have spoken to the resident commissioner of Maharashtra Sadan. The chief minister was in touch with officials every day from Davos, so it is unfortunate that he had to miss out on this event,” said chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya.

The chief minister’s office was tight- l i pped about the inquiry, given that the fault could lie with senior protocol officials.

Among the other chief ministers invited were UP’s Akhilesh Yadav and Rajasthan’s Vasundhara Raje Scindia.