NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing-in ceremony on Sunday at the Ramlila Grounds where the former will take oath as Delhi Chief Minister for the third time. Preparations for the swearing-in ceremony are afoot at the historic Ramlila Maidan which served as the battleground for the 51-year-old bureaucrat-turned-politician during the Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement.
The sprawling Ramlila Maidan, where socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan had addressed a massive gathering during the “Total Revolution” movement in 1970s, has a capacity of about 1.25 lakh people. In 2013 after the AAP’s first poll victory, Kejriwal’s swearing-in ceremony was held at Ramlila Maidan. In 2015 too, his oath-taking ceremony had taken place at the same venue on Feb. 14.
Though an invitation has been sent to the Prime Minister, it is, however, not clear whether Modi would attend the swearing-in ceremony as he is travelling to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Sunday to inaugurate over 30 projects.
Invitations for the swearing-in ceremony have also been sent to BJP’s newly elected eight legislators and the party’s seven sitting local MP’s.
In a near-repeat performance of 2015, the Kejriwal-led AAP retained power with a scintillating win in the just-concluded Delhi Assembly polls, dealing a body blow to the main rival BJP and completely decimating the Congress in a keenly-watched battle.
