A delegation of members of the US House of Representatives and businesspersons called on Narendra Modi here on Thursday as part of its attempts to “promote people-to-people contact and diplomacy” even as the Gujarat Chief Minister is yet to get a visa to visit America 11 years after the communal riots of 2002.

The delegation included Representative Cathy Rodgers, who serves as the Chair of the House Republican Conference, Rep. Aaron Schock, an old friend of Gujarat and Rep. Cynthia Lummis, according to a press release here.

Modi told the delegation that all humanitarian forces should come together to fight terrorism and meet challenges like poverty and unemployment.

Representative Schock pointed out that the people in USA are keen to work with Gujarat and that the people are “impressed” with how the state has facilitated investment. Incidentally, he had also congratulated Modi, on the floor of the House of Representatives, for leading the BJP to a record victory in the 2012 Assembly election.

The delegation is visiting India to promote “people-to-people contact and diplomacy” along with the Overseas Friends of BJP’s (OFBJP) “Global Community Overreach Programme”. This is a joint initiative by the USA-based National Indian-American Public Policy Institute and the India-based Delhi Study Group.

Apart from Gujarat, the delegation will also visit Bangalore, Tirupati, New Delhi Agra, Udaipur, Jaipur and Amritsar. It will interact with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, senior leader L K Advani and BJP President Rajnath Singh.

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