Obama to visit India, address joint session of Parliament

New Delhi: US President Barack Obama, who will undertake his first state visit to India in November, is expected to address a joint session of Parliament, an honour that his predecessor George W Bush could not have.

Obama is expected to address the joint session on November 9, government sources said on Friday. During his trip, the US President will also visit Agra, the sources added.

In view of this plan, the Winter Session of Parliament, that usually starts in the second week of November, will be advanced, they said.

Obama, who took over as the US President in January last year, will be undertaking his first state visit to India with an aim of pushing the bilateral ties to new heights.

Bush, who visited India in March 2006, could not have the honour of addressing the joint session of Parliament of the world's largest democracy.

Initially, he was tipped to address the joint session but the plan was dropped when the Left parties threatened to boycott it.

Left parties were critical of Bush over the war in Iraq.

However, Bill Clinton had addressed the joint session during his visit in 2000.

Among others to have addressed the Indian MPs at a joint session was the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who visited India in August 2007.