New Delhi: AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh at his residence to discuss issues related to law and order in the national capital. The chief minister in waiting was accompanied by senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kejriwal and Sisodia met Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu.
Naidu said the Centre will offer all cooperation to the AAP government in Delhi but cautioned Kejriwal of the great responsibility that came with the massive mandate.
“I’ve assured him that the Centre will cooperate with the state for development of Delhi. We’ll be working as ‘Team India’. I congratulated him on his great victory but also reminded him of the great responsibility,” Naidu said, promising Kejriwal that the Centre will provide all necessary help.
“Center and state will work together as Team India. I told them my co-operation depends on their performance,” Naidu added.
After meeting Naidu, Sisodia said: “We requested for Centre’s assistance in carrying forward the regularisation of unauthorised colonies and demanded full statehood for Delhi. We also asked him for assistance in setting up more colleges, schools and parking space.”
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Kejriwal said he will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee to demand full statehood for Delhi, one of the biggest promises in his party’s manifesto.
Modi, who threw himself into the Delhi campaign, on Tuesday congratulated Kejriwal and said in a Twitter post that he would work with Kejriwal for the development of national capital.
In his first ever phone call to the AAP leader, Modi promised the Centre’s full cooperation to the AAP government, which is expected to take oath at the Ramlila Maidan on Saturday – exactly a year after the 46-year-old leader resigned following 49 tumultuous days in power.
AAP also said it will invite Modi to Kejriwal’s swearing-in ceremony. “We will invite the Prime Minister to the oath-taking ceremony of Arvind Kejriwal,†AAP spokesperson Ashish Khaitan said.
However, all the six cabinet ministers of AAP have retained their seats in the fresh polls, but former cabinet minister Rakhi Bidlan and Girish Soni might lose their cabinet berth in the new government, sources revealed.
Sources also informed NewsMobile that former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson Adarsh Shastri may be inducted into Kejriwal’s team. Other probables for the new cabinet team includes, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Jarnail Singh, Gopal Rai, Manish Sisodia and Somnath Bharti.
AAP created history by winning 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly polls. Kejriwal defeated BJP’s Nupur Sharma in the high-profile New Delhi constituency by a huge margin of 31,583 votes.
After securing a landslide victory and being elected leader of the AAP Legislature Party, Kejriwal met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and staked claim to form the government in Delhi.
Kejriwal, who was accompanied by senior party leader Manish Sisodia, was with Jung for around 25 minutes.
After the meeting, Raj Niwas issued a press release saying the Lt Governor will now send his report with his recommendation to the President to enable government formation, a formality under the rules.
Earlier, addressing the meeting of the MLAs at the Constitution Club, Kejriwal warned the legislators against showing arrogance which, he said, was responsible for the defeat of both Congress and BJP.
“He (Kejriwal) said, Congress was reduced to zero because of its arrogance….BJP at the Centre does not have any major scam against it but it was also their arrogance that led to their defeat in the election.
“He warned us not to show any kind of arrogance through our action and to respect the kind of mandate we have got,†said an AAP MLA.
Kejriwal asked the MLAs to work to fulfill the promises made by the party, Adarsh Shastri, AAP MLA from Dwarka, said.
The defeat in Delhi Assembly polls has come for BJP nearly a fortnight before the Budget Session of Parliament is to commence on February 23.