File photo of Anna Hazare
New Delhi:
Anna Hazare will not be at the Ramlila Maidan when Arvind Kejriwal is sworn in chief minister of Delhi.
"I haven't received any invitation for Kejriwal's oath ceremony so am not attending it," the 76-year-old Gandhian activist said, adding that he is "also ill".
Mr Kejriwal has reportedly requested that the swearing in ceremony be held on Thursday, December 26, but the date has not been finalised yet.
It will be held not at Delhi's Raj Bhavan as is usually done, but at the sprawling Ramlila grounds from where Mr Kejriwal and Anna Hazare had launched their massive campaign for a Lokpal or national anti-graft ombudsman in 2011. Anna's 13-day fast then had galvanised India's middle class into hitting the streets in protest against corruption.
Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party was born out of that movement, but relations between Anna and him soured over his decision to go political.
A year after its launch, Mr Kejriwal's party made a stunning debut in the Delhi elections held this month, winning 28 of the 70 seats in a hung house to come in second behind only the BJP, which refused to form government.
AAP as the second largest party has agreed to form government with external support from the Congress.