Forty-five minutes before Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived to address an election rally in East Delhi, several candidates and Delhi BJP leaders addressed the crowd. Among them was Union Minister Harsh Vardhan whose speech was interrupted with the arrival of party chief Amit Shah. While Mr. Shah walked over to where BJP’s CM candidate Kiran Bedi and Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay were seated, Dr. Vardhan after completing his speech returned to sit alone in a seat that was assigned to him – away from all his colleagues.
East Delhi MP Maheish Girri who served as the emcee for the event also began announcements to felicitate the top leaders and made sure Mr. Shah, Ms. Bedi and Mr. Upadhay received bouquets and shawls. Dr. Vardhan was, however, forgotten during this exchange. Later, Mr. Shah repeated nearly word-for-word an election speech he had already delivered in West Delhi’s Janakpuri a day earlier.