Miffed UP CM cancels New York Consulate reception

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has cancelled a reception to be hosted in his honour by the New York Consul General Dnyaneshwar Mulay on Saturday, besides boycotting the Harvard lecture in protest against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's detention at Boston airport on Friday.

A communiqué from the Consulate General of India in New York merely stated, "Due to unavoidable circumstances, the reception scheduled to be held in honour of Akhilesh Kumar Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on April 27 at the Consulate General of India, New York has been cancelled".

Neither Consul General Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay, who took charge on Wednesday after his stint as the ambassador of Maldives nor Minister (Press and Information) M Rajaram were available for any comments to the media on the reason for the cancellation of the reception. This is the first official function of the Consulate after Muley took charge.

Invitation to the reception were sent out to all prominent Indian-Americans, community leaders, elected officials, friends of India in New York and the media two days ago, after the consulate got the confirmation from the Office of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Khan, a senior leader of the ruling Samajwadi Party in UP and also the state urban development minister, who was accompanying Yadav, was detained for nearly 10 minutes at the Boston Logan International Airport for "further questioning" on Wednesday after he landed in a British Airways flight from India.