New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah here on Wednesday afternoon, a first in a formal setup, indicating that the CM is willing to walk the talk about putting election-time bitterness behind and work in collaboration with the Centre for the betterment of Delhi.
The meeting also came on the day the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors were talking with Citizenship Amendment Act protesters at Shaheen Bagh. Shah had made Shaheen Bagh the BJP’s central plank in the Delhi polls.
Kejriwal drove down to the Union home minister’s residence at 3:15 pm for the meeting that lasted for nearly 20 minutes. The chief minister refrained from speaking to the media as he left but tweeted that he discussed several issues pertaining to Delhi during the “fruitful meeting”.
Met Hon’ble Home Minister Sh Amit Shah ji. Had a very good and fruitful meeting. Discussed several issues related to Delhi. Both of us agreed that we will work together for development of Delhi
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 19, 2020
A senior AAP leader told ThePrint that Kejriwal had sought an appointment to meet Shah ahead of the Delhi elections to complain about “the deteriorating law and order situation in the national capital” but was never allotted time as Shah’s office didn’t get back to the chief minister.
Meeting after bitter election campaign
The meeting comes on the back of one of the most divisive and vitriolic election campaigns in Delhi that saw BJP leaders call the chief minister a terrorist.
Shah, who was one of the prominent faces of the BJP campaign, also took jibes at Kejriwal throughout the election campaign. The CM, on the other hand, had accused the home minister of abusing his position with regard to the Delhi Police.
The Delhi Police falls under the Home Ministry.
Since the elections results, however, Kejriwal has struck a more conciliatory note.
In his speech at his oath-taking ceremony, Kejriwal insisted that he had forgotten all the politics and things that were said during the election campaign as he was now focussed on the development of Delhi.
He also said he had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the ceremony but that the latter couldn’t make it. Both, however, exchanged pleasantries over Twitter with Modi congratulating Kejriwal for the victory while the chief minister thanked him and said he looked forward to “working together to make Delhi a better city”.
Also read: Kejriwal has learnt his lesson, Delhi can expect more governance than politics from AAP