Obama's India visit: Narendra Modi succeeded where Narasimha Rao failed

NEW DELHI: Much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade, former PM Narasimha Rao's government had extended the same invite to then US president Bill Clinton in 1994.

Clinton, however, turned it down saying the dates clashed with his State of the Union address, former foreign secretary K Srinivasan, who served in the Rao administration, revealed in a TV programme.

"The then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was impressed by President Clinton and asked me to invite him for the Republic Day parade of 1995. Instead of going through normal diplomatic route that was US Embassy in Delhi or Indian Embassy in US, I called up Strobe Talbott, who was deputy secretary of state or deputy foreign minister. He got back within 20 or 36 hours and told me that the President was gratified by the invitation but cannot come because of the State of the Union address," Srinivasan told anchor Karan Thapar.

Obama advanced his State of the Union address to make it to the Republic Day.