NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi spoke to his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim and conveyed that he will virtually attend India-Asean summit Sunday, scotching speculation of a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the margins of Asean and East Asia summits in Kuala Lumpur. The ostensible reason for the rare miss to the summit by Modi might be preoccupation with Bihar assembly elections but it also spares him the discomfiture of running into the mercurial president in the middle of a US-India trade deadlock and growing differences over Pakistan-related issues. According to Ibrahim, Modi told him he would attend virtually “given Deepavali festival was still being celebrated in India at that time”. “I respect the decision and extend my Deepavali greetings to him and all the people of

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