NEW DELHI: BJP is planning a grand oath-taking ceremony, perhaps at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, once Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his overseas trip. A party senior revealed on Thursday that alternative venues on the banks of the Yamuna or Ramlila Maidan were also being considered.
“Ramlila Maidan has a historical significance. Several important rallies and swearing-in ceremonies have been held there in the past,” the functionary said, adding that BJP was also contemplating the swearing-in on the river bank, a nod perhaps to the party’s electoral promises to clean the Yamuna. In a campaign rally, Modi has castigated AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal for remarks about Haryana poisoning the river water and said AAP would sink in the Yamuna in the assembly elections.
Enthused by the fact that their party has returned to power in Delhi after 27 long years, the workers are demanded to be allowed to attend the swearing-in ceremony, disclosed a party functionary. He, however, said JLN Stadium hadn’t been finalised as the venue, but is the front runner because of the convenience of several VIP gates there for the use of the PM, Union ministers and CMs expected to attend the function. He said that several MPs from NDA-ruled states would also be present.
“BJP will leave no stone unturned to make the oath-taking ceremony grand,” the functionary said and expected more than 200 MPs and former MPs who participated in the campaigning to be invited along with party workers from Delhi. Over 700 vistaraks who played a prominent role in BJP’s ground-level campaign would also be invited to the oath-taking ceremony, revealed another functionary.
Sources in the party said that given the caste and social equations, discussions were under way on appointing a deputy CM along with the CM. “Though it is difficult at this time to say who will become CM, it could be from the three communities — Bania, Punjabi and Poorvanchali — who backed the party in large numbers in the assembly polls,” one of them said.
The Delhi cabinet will consist of CM and six others. The meeting of the BJP legislature party and the oath-taking ceremony are expected to take place after February 16. The saffron party swept to power this time, winning 48 of the 70 assembly seats. AAP won 22 seats, while Congress drew a blank in the polls held on Feb 5.
Incumbent CM Atishi handed her resignation to LG V K Saxena on Sunday, a day after AAP’s defeat in which its senior most leadership was vanquished, with just Atishi and Gopal Rai among the ministers surviving the battle. The LG’s office said Atishi has been asked to continue in the post until the formation of the new govt.
