New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi's new chief minister at noon on Saturday, December 28. Everyone is invited and there will be "no VIPs," he has promised.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief also said this morning that his government will be "searching for honest people."
"We need honest and efficient people. We have a team to track these people down...It's for the first time ever that a government is searching for honest people," Mr Kejriwal said this morning, adding, "Now all honest people will be given positions." (
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Mr Kejriwal has also requested all Delhi-ites to attend his swearing-in ceremony on Saturday at the sprawling Ramlila Maidan from where he, along with one-time mentor Anna Hazare, had launched a massive campaign in 2011 to demand a Lokpal or national anti-corruption ombudsman. The movement had galvanised the middle classes, who came out in large numbers to protest against systemic corruption.
Anna today said that he is not well and is unlikely to attend Mr Kejriwal's swearing-in ceremony.
This morning, Mr Kejriwal smiled and looked relaxed as he shared his immediate plans for the capital with reporters. A woolen scarf wrapped around his head to beat Delhi's biting cold, Mr Kejriwal said he had been unwell for the past few days. "I haven't been able to go for my regular morning walk for some days," he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief, who will be Delhi's youngest-ever chief minister at 45, will be sworn in along with six ministers, the youngest of whom is 26-year-old Rakhi Birla and the oldest, 41-year-old Manish Sisodia.
AAP has invited Anna Hazare for Saturday's oath-taking ceremony, along with Kiran Bedi and Santosh Hegde, who worked with Mr Kejriwal for the Lokpal campaign as part of the former "Team Anna".
Mr Kejriwal faces his first political challenge almost immediately; he has to prove majority on the floor of the Delhi assembly within seven days of being sworn in. His AAP has 28 legislators and has been promised the support of its eight legislators by the Congress, which has emphasised that it will not back Mr Kejriwal "blindly."