In a major embarrassment to the Gujarat government, the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman issued an advertisement in a national daily in New Delhi on Friday, clarifying it has not invited Chief Minister Narendra Modi to Oman.

This comes nearly three weeks after the Gujarat Information department issued a press release about an Oman delegation’s visit to Gandhinagar. The release had stated that “the Chief Minister accepted an invitation to lead a business delegation of the state government to visit Oman to explore the possibility of developing trade and commerce between Gujarat and Oman…”

However, the advertisement issued today said the invitation was not extended by the Sultanate of Oman, but by the Dutch Rotterdam company, which has a project in the port city of Sohar. It mentioned that the company has an agreement with Gujarat and invited Modi. “The Government of Sultanate of Oman has no relation to this visit. He is the guest of the above mentioned (company),” it read.

Later today, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said Modi was not scheduled to visit Oman neither did the Middle East destination figure in his itinerary during his two-day visit to Russia from October 26. “We are quite amused to see this ad in a national daily,” said a senior official in the CMO. The official, however, maintained that during a visit by a nine-member delegation led by Oman Industries and Commerce Minister – Maqbool Ali Sultan — on September 9, Modi was invited by the Omani minister. They said the CM had then accepted the invitation to visit the Sohar Port, where the Dutch port company Rotterdam is functional in a big way.

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