Kejriwal 'denied political clearance' to attend climate meet in Denmark

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not attend the C-40 Climate Summit in Denmark as the Ministry of External Affairs denied political clearance to him, said official sources on Tuesday.

The Delhi government sources said the chief minister was scheduled to leave for the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, at 2 pm on Tuesday.

Kejriwal was to lead an eight-member delegation for the summit.

The MEA, however, gave clearance to West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, claimed sources.

"The chief minister could not fly out of Delhi on Tuesday afternoon as the MEA did not give political clearance to him for his Denmark visit," they said.

At the Summit, Kejriwal was to speak on the AAP government's experience in lowering pollution level in Delhi and other issues.

In response to media query over Kejriwal's proposed visit to Denmark, the MEA last week had said a decision on the issue is taken based on multiple inputs.

"I do not answer query specific to political clearance. And if you understand how it functions, we get hundreds of requests for political clearances every month from ministries, secretaries, bureaucrats. A decision is based on multiple inputs," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said.

"Some of the inputs we get from the mission and it takes into account the nature of the event where the person is going to participate. It takes into account the level of participation from other countries and also the kind of invitation that is extended," he had added.

In an official statement on September 22, the Delhi government had said the chief minister was expected to speak at the Summit on his government's experience in lowering air pollution in the city and present the set of initiatives taken by the AAP dispensation that led to the 25 per cent reduction in air pollution.