After accepting invite, Advani backs out of Assembly event

Speaker says BJP leader cited personal reasons for not being able to come

December 13, 2018 01:38 am | Updated 01:38 am IST - New Delhi:

A day after the Aam Aadmi Party-dominated Delhi Assembly announced that senior BJP leader L.K. Advani would attend the legislature’s 25th anniversary event on Saturday, the former Deputy Prime Minister informed Speaker Ram Niwas Goel that he would not be able to make it, sources said on Wednesday.

“Mr. Advani’s personal assistant has told me that the leader will not be able to attend the event due to personal reasons,” Mr. Goel told PTI late on Wednesday.

On Monday, Mr. Goel had said that the veteran BJP leader would be the chief guest for the Assembly’s silver jubilee celebrations.

Mr. Goel said that Mr. Advani had accepted the invitation, copies of which were shared with the media on Monday.

Mr. Advani had been invited as he was the first chairperson of the Delhi Metropolitan Council, the body that had preceded the Assembly, which was set up in 1993.

Assembly sources, however, said that Mr. Advani wrote to the Speaker on Tuesday saying that he would not be able to attend the event.

Assam Governor

Sources added that Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi, who was a senior Delhi BJP leader before becoming governor, was also invited for the event, but was unlikely to attend now. This despite the governor being in Delhi.

BJP sources said Dr. Mukhi and other senior BJP leaders were in town to attend the wedding of a senior BJP leader’s daughter.

‘Political agenda’

BJP sources said that though the event was meant to celebrate the institution, there were apprehensions that it would be politicised and used by the AAP to target the Bharatiya Janata Party over its treatment of its own veteran leaders.

“The Aam Aadmi Party leaders, specially its chief Arvind Kejriwal, are known to push their political agenda on almost any platform. Mr. Advani may inadvertently become their tool in this case,” a senior Delhi BJP functionary said.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Vijender Gupta had welcomed the invite to Mr. Advani, but had cautioned the Aam Aadmi Party against turning the event into a “political” one.

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