New Delhi: Despite personal invitations from Arvind Kejriwal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and central ministers did not turn up at his swearing-in ceremony as Delhi Chief Minister at the Ramlila Maidan. Kiran Bedi, who was BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi polls, and senior Congress leader Ajay Maken also skipped the oath-taking ceremony of Kejriwal.
Modi, who had prior engagements in Maharashtra, had conveyed to Kejriwal when he had gone to invite him for the ceremony that he would be unavailable for the day.
Apart from Modi, Kejriwal had also invited Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu for the oath-taking ceremony. Singh and Naidu too were away from the city due to official engagements.
However, the three elected BJP MLAs—Om Prakash Sharma, Jagdish Pradhan and Vijender Gupta—attended the oath-taking ceremony. Two of the seven Delhi BJP MPs - South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri and North-West MP Udit Raj - were also present.
“AAP has got the people's mandate following which we went to attend his oath-taking ceremony,” Bidhuri said.
He, however, expressed disappointment that he and other BJP leaders were not allowed by the security personnel to meet Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers.
