Arvind Kejriwal takes oath as Delhi chief minister
14 Feb 2015
Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the eighth chief minister of Delhi as head of the Aam Aadmi Party government today. Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung administered the oath of office to Kejrival and six of his cabinet collegues before a crowd of thousands at the Ramlila Maidan at 12:15 pm.
Kejriwal 46, is leading the youngest ministrys in the country, with Manish Sisodia (42), Asim Khan (38), Sandeep Kumar ( 34), Gopal Rai (46), Satyendra Jain (49) and Jitender Singh Tomar (48) joining his cabinet as ministers - an antithesis to the governments led by old party hands at both the centre and states across the country.
Also, unlike the governments of all other political parties in the country, all of the ministers sworn in today are educated, holding graduate and post-graduate degrees.
Addressing the massive crowd after the simple swearing-in ceremony, Arvind Kejriwal asked the people to remain vigilant even after the Aam Aadmi Party's assumption of power as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and a thriving democracy.
"It is not I who has become the chief minister of Delhi, but each citizen of Delhi who has become its chief minister," he said.
Kejriwal, who took lessons from his past mistakes, assured business leaders that he would not make them pay any unfair dues, and that he would make sure they are not harassed by officials, the only request being that they pay their taxes.
The new chief minister said he had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi to leave the responsibility of running Delhi to Delhiites.
"I met the prime minister and told him that we want constructive cooperation with the centre," said. Kejriwal. "For a long time, the BJP has been promising statehood for Delhi, but they haven't been able to get the chance. I have told the prime minister that this is the best time and opportunity to do so.''
''We see the three BJP MLAs as our MLAs. We will work for the entire city," he added
"Kiran Bedi is like my older sister. We will take help from her too. Ajay Maken has a long experience as a lawmaker. We will take his guidance too," said Kejriwal.
On finding money to run the government he said, "There is no dearth of money in a government, only a lack of intention.
"We want to end VIP culture in Delhi, as nobody likes it when a road is blocked just for a minister to cross. Of course we will need the cars. We will just get rid of the `all batty'," he said.
