Oppn, bureaucrats give it a miss: Delhi govt’s iftar ends up as AAP-only affair
In a far cry from the first iftar party hosted by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2015, the one on Monday was bereft of members of the opposition, bureaucracy and the Union government. Addressing party workers and supporters, Kejriwal said he was confident that the almighty would help his government fight all obstacles as “our intentions are right”. He also urged people to guard against “divisive elements” trying to break the society.
The sprawling lawns of the Palika Services Officers Institute were not lacking in terms of arrangements — with chairs neatly laid out, tastefully decorated enclosures, and a large vegetarian and non-vegetarian spread.
But the absence of politicians from the Congress and the BJP, representatives of the Union government, and Constitutional authorities like the Vice-President was hard to miss. The affair lasted an hour, from 7-8 pm.
AAP functionaries in the party and the government maintained they had extended invites “as per protocol”, which covers the Vice-President, Lt-Governor, Leader of Opposition, MLAs of all parties, MPs and diplomats.
Apart from ministers and MLAs, AAP leaders, including Atishi Marlena and Dilip Pandey, were present at the event. Kejriwal arrived at 7 pm with his deputy Manish Sisodia, PWD Minister Satyendar Jain and Environment Minister Imran Hussain, and left around 7.30 pm after prayers.
However, no one from outside the AAP turned up. When contacted, a Raj Niwas official said L-G Anil Baijal was attending a conference of Governors and Lt-Governors at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, who also gave the event a miss, said the government may have sent a formal invite in the form of a card. “However, the tradition is that opposition leaders are invited over calls,” he said.
Despite speculation in the days leading up to the event, no one from the Congress attended the iftar. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken’s absence was predictable, but political circles were abuzz that the central leadership of the Congress might send a representative, keeping the evolving political equations ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in mind.
Bureaucrats, at loggerheads with ministers since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, stayed away from the event. A top official said, “These events are political in nature. Very rarely do officers show up at such functions.”
In 2015, the then L-G Najeeb Jung, former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, former vice-president Hamid Ansari, TMC’s Derek O’Brien and former Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit were among the prominent faces at the iftar.
In 2016, Jung had given the event a miss, but Ansari had turned up. The 2017 event was marked by the party’s founding member Kumar Vishwas giving it a miss, as the AAP battled a major crisis, with sacked minister Kapil Mishra levelling allegations against the top leadership.
