Obama will have private dinner with Singh

While Obama will be accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and senior officials including US Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, the Indian side will have five senior ministers of the UPA besides Singh’s wife, Gursharan Kaur.

The ministers invited include Pranab Mukherjee, S M Krishna and P Chidambaram. A surprise invitee is Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdulla. The dinner will also have Minister of state Salman Khruseed in his capacity as the minister-in-waiting for Obama. Another invitee is Prithviraj Chavan.

Others such as Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and Singh’s principal secretary T K A Nair will also be there.

Sources told Deccan Herald that key issues concerning the two countries will be discussed over the dinner, which will be at the Prime Minister’s residence at 7, Race Course Road, after Obama finishes with a visit to the Humayun Tomb.

The US president will arrive at Mumbai on November 6 at 11:30 am. On November 7, he will arrive at the Delhi airport at 3:35 pm, from where he will directly go to visit the Tomb and the Roosvelt House—the US ambassador’s residence.

Obama will have a hectic day in the capital on November 8 when he will take part in all formal engagements that starts with a ceremonial guard of honour at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 9:45 am followed by a visit to Rajghat.

From there, he will head to the majestic Hyderabad House, where at 11 am, he and Singh will address 10 top CEOs of the two countries. This will be followed by delegation-level talks and a joint press conference by the two leaders.

At 3:30 pm, Obama will meet Vice President Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for 20 minutes each at the Hotel Mauyra Sheraton where he will be camping. After this, the US president will address the members of Parliament at 5 pm and participate in a state dinner hosted by President Pratibha Patil.

S M Krishna will not call on Obama but will be present at most of the formal meetings besides the private dinner on November 7. The US president had made a special gesture by attending a dinner hosted for Krishna by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when the External Affairs Minister visited New York recently.