Kejriwal picks his team; 'unwell' Anna to skip swearing-in

December 24, 2013

New Delhi, Dec 24: Arvind Kejriwal is understood to have finalised his team of ministers that includes his trusted associate Manish Sisodia and five others to be inducted into his ministry that will be sworn in later this week.

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Besides Mr Sisodia, a former journalist who won from Patparganj constituency, the Cabinet will include Rakhi Birla, the giant killer who defeated PWD Minister Rajkumar Chouhan, Somnath Bharti (defeated Women and Child Development Minister Kiran Walia) Saurabh Bhardwaj, Girish Soni and Satendra Jain, said Bharadwaj after a meeting with Mr Kejriwal.

Mr Kejriwal may be sworn in as Chief Minister once President Pranab Mukherjee clears the Lt Governor’s proposal in this regard.

Throughout the day Mr Kejriwal held discussions at his residence here with party leaders including Mr Sisodia.

Meanwhile, Mr Kejriwal is understood to have decided on senior IAS officer, Rajendra Kumar as Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary.

Like Mr Kejriwal, 47-year-old Kumar, at present Higher Education Secretary, is an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur.

Mr Kumar met Mr Kejriwal at his residence here. Chief Secretary D M Spolia also met Mr Kejriwal. They were described as courtesy calls. Birla, Bharti, Jain and Soni met Kejriwal.

Anna to skip

Anna Hazare is yet to receive an invitation for the swearing-in ceremony of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi but would not attend even if he got one owing to ill-health.

"Nahi, abhi letter nahi aaya (No, the invitation has not come yet)," Hazare said, when asked if he has received any invitation from his former protege for attending the oath taking ceremony.

"I will speak (to him) on December 26," Hazare said. Kejriwal has requested Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to allow him to take oath at the Ramlila Maidan on December 26, where Hazare had launched his movement for the Jan Lokpal in 2011.

Asked if he would attend the swearing-in ceremony if he received the invitation, Hazare said, "nahi, abhi toh mera tabiyat theek nahi (No, right now I am unwell)."

Hazare had yesterday declined to comment on the Kejriwal-led AAP's decision to form the new government in Delhi, but added he would express his views when his former protege acts on the Lokayukta issue.

"Mein bolta hoon, Kejriwal par no comment. Koi baat nahi karna hai," Hazare had said.

Asked about Kejriwal's party accepting outside support of Congress, Hazare said, "Whatever is good, let him do it... He will do whatever is right."

Hazare had parted ways with Kejriwal following his decision to form a political party.

The relations between the Gandhian and the AAP convenor had hit a new low when he recently ordered a frontline leader of Kejriwal's party Gopal Rai to leave his fast venue and village after he engaged in a spat with former Army chief General V K Singh. Singh had slammed Kejriwal and others for having deserted Hazare and formed a political party.

The AAP had immediately recalled Rai from Hazare's fast venue.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: Despite repeated assurances by the Centre and state government of no shortage of food and essential services in Delhi, many daily wage earners have started fleeing the national capital on foot to return to their native villages in nearby Uttar Pradesh and other states because of the hardships being faced by them.
Most daily wage earners who are fleeing have complained that they are doing so because they will die of hunger due to lack of resources at their disposal.
"I am going to Azamgarh, my native place which is more than 800 kilometers from here. We have started walking towards our village. On the roads, if we get some vehicles then it will be all right otherwise we will continue on foot. I used to work in the construction sector but all work has stopped, we therefore have no other means to buy our rations. Atleast, food is guaranteed in our homes," Ghanshyam, a daily wage earner, told ANI here.
Rani, another daily wage earner, who was fleeing Delhi along with her family said, "Who would want to leave on foot, but what other options do we have. Our children will die of hunger, even if they are saved from the disease. That is why we are leaving."
While the government has been assuring that it will provide food and other essentials to the low-income groups, the people complained that they are yet to receive any help.
The departing of people has started despite repeated warnings by governments to prevent the influx of persons living in other states to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
Prince, who used to reside in Mongolpuri area of Delhi, said, "If we continue to stay the landlord will pester us for rent. The prices of all commodities are rising with each passing day, this way we will have nothing left to survive. We did not get any help from the government. I am, therefore, returning to Kasganj, which is close to 300 kilometres from Delhi. We will at least get food served twice a day in the village, nobody is offering us even water here."
Earlier on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced Rs 5,000 for each construction worker under Construction Workers Welfare Board Fund.
Addressing a video conference here, he said, "The Delhi government will give Rs 5,000 to each construction worker as their livelihood has been affected due the outbreak of coronavirus."
He also said that the number of night shelters in the city has been increased and more food is being distributed to homeless people.
He also said that due to curfew, several people were not able to get food, and urged the public to send such people to the nearest shelters of the Delhi government, where food was being arranged.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: Celebrations broke out at the AAP headquarters here as early vote-counting trends for the Delhi Assembly polls on Tuesday showed a comfortable victory for the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The headquarters were decorated with blue and white balloons and big cut-outs of Kejriwal were placed in different parts of the party office.

"We knew it. We have changed the politics of this country. Now it is Delhi, next is India," said Sanjeev Singh, a party volunteer from Hari Nagar.

Another volunteer Fareen Khan said, "We hope we get such a clear majority that a message goes out that doing Hindu-Muslim politics will not work anymore."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading in 26 seats while the BJP is leading in 14 seats, according to early trends by the Election Commission.

According to the EC's website, AAP convenor Kejriwal is leading in his New Delhi constituency.

Kejriwal reached the party office as the counting of votes got underway.

Counting centres are spread across 21 locations, spanning 70 constituencies.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly was held on Saturday.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Bhopal, Mar 12: The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Thursday took a dig at Jyotiraditya Scindia, who broke ranks with the party and joined BJP on Wednesday, by pointing out that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Amit Shah had not even put out as much a tweet to welcome him in the party, and construed it as "humiliation" for the "maharaja".

"Not even a tweet by Narendra Modi-ji or Amit Shah-ji to welcome Scindia-ji! Modi-ji, Shah-ji, at least do not do it so soon. It has not even been 24 hours yet and you guys have already started humiliating him...!" Madya Pradesh Congress tweeted in Hindi.

Taking a jibe at Mr Scindia, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior who ended his 18-year-long association with the Congress party on a bitter note, the state Congress said: "He is a maharaja, the one whose history is often mentioned by Shivraj-ji (former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan)."

On Wednesday, Jyotiraditya  Scindia joined BJP in New Delhi in the presence of party president JP Nadda. He had resigned from Congress a day earlier after meeting Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Scindia will file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections on March 13. He is expected to go to Bhopal today.

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