PTI
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY13
Exactly one year after he quit over Janlokpal issue, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal will take oath tomorrow at the historic Ramlila Ground as the eighth Chief Minister of Delhi, after leading AAP to a stupendous victory in the assembly polls trouncing BJP.
Kejriwal's close confidant Manish Sisodia is likely to be sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister and another AAP leader Satyendra Jain may also make it for the second time. All others are first time MLAs -Jitendra Tomar, Gopal Rai, Sandeep Kumar and Asim Ahmed Khan- who are tipped to be part of the Kejriwal cabinet.Shahdara MLA Ramniwas Goel could be the Speaker of the Assembly while Bandana Kumari, from Shalimar Bag constituency, will be Deputy Speaker, AAP sources said.
46-year-old Kejriwal, in a radio message, has already invited people of Delhi to his swearing in ceremony at the Ramlila ground --the protest venue of the anti-graft campaign over three years ago.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), which had started preparations for the oath ceremony two days back, today gave final touches to the arrangements at the venue in Central Delhi.
The municipal officials said preparations for the event were near complete.
Around 1,200 Delhi Police personnel will keep a tight vigil at the venue where a large crowd is expected to gather.
The Security Wing will secure the stage where Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Kejriwal and five other Ministers.
Kejriwal is expected to unveil his priorities for the government after taking oath.
He has already asked Chief Secretary D M Spolia to start work on a roadmap to implement AAP's 70-point election manifesto.
Sources in the government said Chief Secretary Spolia has directed all the departments to prepare separate roadmaps to implement AAP's 70-point manifesto and they are making specific presentations to be made before the new Chief Minister.
The AAP's manifesto includes 50 per cent cut in power tariff, free Wi-Fi across the city, installation of 10-15 lakh CCTVs, building of two lakh public toilets across Delhi, setting up of 20 new colleges and regulating fees in private schools.
It also promised addition of 30,000 more beds in Delhi hospitals and creation of eight lakh new jobs in the next five years.
Releasing the manifesto last month, Kejriwal had announced that an AAP government will slash electricity tariff by 50 per cent and carry out a thorough audit of the private power distribution companies based on which rates will be revised.
Kejriwal had yesterday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invited him to the oath-taking ceremony but Modi expressed his inability to attend it as he has prior engagement in Maharashtra. The AAP Chief was accompanied by Sisodia.
The Prime Minister informed him that he will be out of Delhi on Saturday and will not be able to attend the ceremony, Sisodia told reporters after the meeting.
The AAP leader had on Wednesday invited Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu to the oath-taking ceremony in separate meetings Kejriwal had with them.
All the seven MPs of Delhi have also been invited to the event.
Kejriwal ditches the metro, to take a car to swearing in
Delhi’s chief ministerial designate Arvind Kejriwal will travel by car, accompanied by his family, to the venue of swearing-in ceremony at Ramlila Maidan, party sources said today.
Unlike last time, he will not be taking the Metro, a move that had drawn a lot of criticism from the people.
A party member, involved in preparations related to the ceremony at his residence in Kaushambi here, said that since Kejriwal is down with fever, he has decided to go by car. “He is not well today and may not be well enough to ride in Metro tomorrow. So he would take road route tomorrow,” the AAP member said.
