Thousands gathered at the historic Ramlila Maidan here on Saturday for the swearing-in of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal as the new Chief Minister of Delhi.
Reiterating that his Government was not taking oath to assume power but to serve the people, Kejriwal urged other parties in the Delhi Assembly to work with his team and set aside the political differences. Manish Sisodia, Girish Soni, Rakhi Birla, Satyendra Jain, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Somnath Bharti took oath along with Kejriwal.
A meeting of the Cabinet, which was held soon after the swearing-in ceremony, decided on the portfolios of the Ministers. Kejriwal will take charge of Home, Finance, Vigilance, Power, Planning and Services departments.
Power tariff was a major political issue raised by the AAP during the elections; the party promised to cut tariff by 50 per cent immediately. Soon after taking over, Kejriwal announced that his Government would take a decision on water by Monday and on power tariff by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up Kejriwal and extended support to the new Government. BJP President Rajnath Singh hoped the Kejriwal Government would fully live up to the expectations of the people. Social activists Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi also congratulated their former colleague.
CII President Chandrajit Banerjee said he was confident that the new Government would be industry-friendly and strengthen Delhi’s pre-eminent position both economically and socially.
Assocham President Rana Kapoor said AAP’s ideology did not really matter as long as results are delivered on the economic front. “Over 30 per cent electricity is lost in transmission; losses which can be reduced by investing in state-of-the-art equipment,” he said.
At the Ramlila Ground, emotions ran high; every word of Kejriwal was greeted with a thunderous applause. “The whole fight is not to make Arvind Kejriwal a Chief Minister but it is for a change of governance in Delhi,” the new Chief Minister said, in a brief speech.
He said action would be taken against corrupt public servants. “I don’t claim to have a magic wand or remedies for all the ills but if the 1.5 crore people of Delhi join in, there is no reason why all the problems can’t be solved,” he said. On proving a majority in the House on January 3, Kejriwal said even if his party does not manage a majority, people would vote it back to power with a thumping majority.
Kejriwal took the Metro from his house at Kaushambi in Ghaziabad to reach the venue.