Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he declined US President Donald Trump’s invitation to visit Washington DC as he had to return to the “holy land of Lord Jagannath”.
The Prime Minister mentioned this at a public address in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar.
PM Modi had been to Canada to attend the G7 Summit recently. He met with several heads of state including French President Emmanuel Macron.
It was during the G7 Summit that Mr Trump asked on a phone call to PM Modi whether he would visit Washington DC on an official invitation.
“I was in Canada for the G7 Summit when US President [Donald] Trump called and invited me to Washington for a discussion and lunch. I thanked him for the invitation, saying I have to visit Odisha, the land of Lord Jagannath. I humbly rejected his invitation,” PM Modi said at the public event.
It was the first time PM Modi participated in the first anniversary celebrations of the BJP government in Odisha.
He also launched development projects worth over Rs 18,600 crore.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a statement said PM Modi invited Mr Trump to visit India for the Quad Summit, likely to be held later this year.
The two leaders were scheduled to meet in Canada on the sidelines of the G7 Summit. However, Mr Trump left the Summit midway amid rising hostilities between Israel and Iran.
