DHAKA: Narendra Modi, to be India’s next prime minister, has taken to Twitter to thank fellow leaders in Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Australia for their good wishes.

 But one man still waiting for a reply is US Secretary of State John Kerry.

 While Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has had two mentions and Russian president Vladimir Putin received warm words on Monday,  Modi has conspicuously made no reference at all to the leaders of the world’s superpower.

Washington, along with European powers, boycotted the 63-year-old for a decade and denied him a visa over religious violence in Gujarat in 2002 while he was the state’s chief minister.

About 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.  Modi has never been found guilty of wrongdoing over the  riots, and has denied any wrongdoing. 

Kerry tweeted congratulations to Modi on Friday after a landslide win for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, saying he looked forward to working with him and ‘growing shared prosperity/security’.

Britain had also boycotted Modi, but British prime minister David Cameron sent a message of congratulations on Friday which was acknowledged by Modi the day afterwards.

‘Hoping to further strengthen India-UK relations,’ he wrote.

US president Barack Obama telephoned Modi but has yet to comment in person. He had warm words for his predecessor on Saturday, however.

As Dr Manmohan Singh left office after 10 years in power, Obama called to tell him that that there were ‘very few people in public life that I have admired or appreciated more’, reports NDTV.

BDST: 1933 HRS, MAY 19, 2014