NEW DELHI: BJP veteran L.K. Advani will not be able to attend an event to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Saturday due to personal reasons, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said.
The Delhi Assembly Speaker had invited Advani as the chief guest to the function held to mark the 25th anniversary of its first sitting.
“Advani ji’s PA has told me that the leader will not be able to attend the event due to personal reasons,” Mr Goel said late on Wednesday.
A large section of the BJP’s city unit had criticised Mr Advani’s decision to attend Delhi Assembly’s silver jubilee function on December 15, saying that there is no need of him sharing stage with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Earlier, local BJP leaders, including senior functionaries, told this newspaper that Mr Advani must reconsider his decision to join the function as chief guest.
A senior BJP leader said that Mr Advani, being a founder member of the party, must avoid sharing stage with the AAP leadership. “Mr Kejriwal is famous for misusing government stage like this to push his own political agenda,” he added. A senior office bearer of the Delhi BJP said that Mr Kejriwal’s intension is “doubtful.”
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, however, had said that there is nothing wrong in attending the silver jubilee function of Assembly once he received the invitation. “To attend or not a function is Advani ji’s personal decision. But when he is attending the function, Advani ji must tell Mr Kejriwal not to bring politics to its lowest level. He should also teach Mr Kejriwal the ways to do politics while respecting the Constitution,” Mr Tiwari added.
The AAP and BJP share a bitter relation over a host of issues. The two sides traded barbs on many occasions most recently in case of inauguration of Signature Bridge and an attack on chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Delhi Secretariat.
Mr Advani had been the first chairperson of the Delhi Metropolitan Council, the body that preceded the Assembly, from 1966 to 1970. The Delhi Assembly had its first sitting on December 14, 1993.
