A day after they scored a thumping victory in the legislative assembly elections, the next Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, has started work with a round of political meetings with union ministers to discuss issues central to the Aam Admi Party’s poll objectives, including statehood for the national capital. Kejriwal also invited the people of Delhi to his oath ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan on February 14.
Kejriwal met Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh and is scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee later in the day.
Met Venkaiah Naidu ji n Rajnath ji -the 2 most imp ministries for del govt. Invited them to oath ceremony(1/3)
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 11, 2015
Explained to both of them that full statehood for Delhi was necessary to meet people's expectations(2/3)
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 11, 2015
We want constructive n healthy relationship wid centre(3/3)
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 11, 2015
Kejriwal reached out to residents through an FM radio ad released late on Tuesday and invited them to the Ramlila Maidan, the same place he had taken oath in December 2013.
Aam Aadmi Party won 67 of the 70 seats yesterday and Kejriwal was unanimously elected as the leader of the legislative
party. He met Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at his official residence yesterday.
Kejriwal will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow and invite him for the swearing-in ceremony at Ramlila Maidan on February 14. Modi, whose party suffered a humiliating defeat at the elections, managing to only win three seats, congratulated Kejriwal yesterday and invited him to tea.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia said Naidu had assured the Centre's complete support to the party, without any political divide, for the development of Delhi.
"We requested for Centre's assistance in prime issues regarding development of Delhi. He assured us Centre will extend its full support for development of Delhi, without any political divide," Sisodia said after meeting Naidu.
"We requested for Centre's assistance in carrying forward work of regularization of unauthorized colonies, full statehood for Delhi," he added.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party said it has received a notice from the Income Tax department over the donation issue and is ready to face any probe. AAP spokesperson Atishi Marlena said the notice was sent to the party's Patel Nagar office by the Income Tax Department.
"We are open for any probe by the Income Tax department or the Enforcement Directorate. We want this issue to be probed so that this allegations can be put to rest. But while welcoming the probe, we also want an SIT to probe political funding of all political parties and not just AAP," she said.
The notice refers to the allegations from a break-away group, AVAM, that AAP had received funding from dubious companies in March last year. The notice states that the party had allegedly received four cheques from different companies on March 31 last year.
According to the notice dated February 9 -- a day before the counting, the IT department found that the four companies from which AAP had received its donation are prima facie not "genuine", and neither the company nor their directors are available at the address. It has also asked AAP to produce 'book of documents or accounts' before the department.
Marlena said if the companies were dubious, then there should be an independent investigation to probe the companies as well. "We will respond to the notice as we have nothing to hide and there is no fault of ours. How does one verify the address of a company which does not exist? We had received cheques.
"It is not the job of the party to verify the addresses since it does not issue cheque books, which are mostly delivered at residential or office address by banks," said another party leader.
Arvind Kejriwal's victory speech: