No R-Day visit, but Biden committed to India ties: US

US President Joe Biden won't be able to make it to India in late January but he is "personally committed" to deepening ties with India, shares a "close personal bond" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and looks forward to engaging with Modi "in the weeks and months ahead", US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan has said.

- Prashant Jha

In an exclusive response, when asked about reports of Biden not travelling to India for the Republic Day ceremony, Sullivan, Biden's closest foreign policy aide and an architect of the relationship with India, told HT: "Due to scheduling demands, we notified Indian officials that the President would be unable to visit India in late January." 

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti had publicly said on September 20 that Modi had invited Biden for the Republic Day ceremony when they met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Delhi. HT reported, on September 1, of the buzz in the Delhi-DC corridor of the possibility of this visit, which was to be merged with a Quad Leaders' Summit that India was hoping to host at the same time if the schedule of all leaders aligned. This week, officials in Delhi told reporters that Biden was not coming, and the Quad meeting would be held later.