Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not been invited for the launch of the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, which will connect Botanical Garden in Noida with the Kalkaji Mandir in south Delhi, on December 25.
The line will, however, be the third in the country to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will also address a public meeting afterwards.
The Delhi government termed it a repeat of the inauguration of the Badarpur-Faridabad Metro line in September, 2015, for which Mr. Kejriwal was not invited “in a break from the norm”. The government said it was yet to receive any official invite from “even a single one of the multiple government entities” involved in the project. Noida authority officials, too, denied having extended an invite to the Delhi Chief Minister.
“The Delhi government is yet to receive any official communication from either the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC), the Urban Development Ministry or the Noida Authority about an invite to the Delhi CM,” said a senior Delhi government spokesperson.
The spokesperson also indicating that the CM was not inclined to attend the event even if invited after the recent fare hike. “The Delhi government is in favour of a Delhi Metro which can provide safe and efficient travel to commuters at affordable rates, not the entity it has become,” the spokesperson added.
The Delhi government is a 50% partner in DMRC in terms of its finances and to the extent that even a routine meeting cannot be held without the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretary and the Transport Commissioner in attendance, a government source pointed out.
