Narendra Modi quick on Twitter diplomacy; no mention of US

NEW DELHI: India’s prime minister-elect Narendra Modi has taken to Twitter to thank fellow leaders in Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Australia for their support, but one man still waiting for a reply is US Secretary of State John Kerry.
While Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper has had two mentions and Russian President Putin received warm words on Monday, Modi has conspicuously made no reference at all to the leaders of the world’s most powerful democracy.
Washington, along with European powers, boycotted the 63-year-old for a decade and denied him a visa over religious riots that erupted in 2002 during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat state.
Kerry tweeted congratulations to Modi on Friday after a landslide win for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, saying he looked forward to “growing shared prosperity/security.”
President Barack Obama telephoned Modi, a keen user of social networks, but is yet to comment in person. He had warm words for his predecessor on Saturday, however.
Meanwhile, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi offered to resign Monday after leading the once-dominant Congress Party to its worst-ever election defeat last week, only for colleagues to insist the dynasty stay in place, an MP said.
Congress won just 44 seats in the 543-member Parliament in the parliamentary election as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power with the first majority in 30 years.
Sonia, the 67-year-old Congress Party president, entrusted campaigning for the first time to her son and Vice President Rahul, whose lacklustre performance failed to convince voters as Congress sought a third term in power.
“They both offered to resign but the party rejected it unanimously,” member of Parliament Amarinder Singh told reporters after a meeting of the Congress’s top decision-making body in New Delhi.
The Press Trust of India reported that the Congress Working Committee passed a unanimous resolution “expressing full faith in the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.”
The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has provided three prime ministers, including independent India’s first, but analysts are increasingly questioning if it is the vote-winner it used to be.
Also on Monday, an Indian Army soldier was killed and two others wounded in a skirmish near the heavily militarised de facto border with Pakistan in Indian Kashmir, a defense spokesman said Monday.
The incident took place in Akhnoor, 350 kilometers south of the main city of Srinagar.
Modi has said that peace talks with Pakistan cannot take place at the same time as violence.
The Indian Army said it returned fire on the attackers Sunday night but the group fled back in the direction of a Pakistan Army post, according to the defense statement.