Video: VIPs missing, iftar hosted by Arvind Kejriwal a quiet affair

NEW DELHI: The chief minister’s iftar on Friday lost its sheen with most of the prominent invitees, including Vice-President Hamid Ansari, lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, former CM Shiela Dikshit and former LG Najeeb Jung, giving it a miss. Most of them had attended the iftar hosted by the chief minister last year.
While AAP’s Kumar Vishwas, who has been accused of eyeing the party convener’s post in place of Kejriwal, didn’t turn up, MLA Amanatulla Khan, who recently slammed Vishwas for being a BJP agent, was seen going around obliging fans who wanted selfies with him.After greeting the CM, who is also the chairman of Urdu Academy in Delhi, Khan was not seen around him.
Masid Deobandi, vice-chairman of Urdu Academy, told TOI, “An invitation was sent to Vishwas but we don’t know why he didn’t turn up.” He added that the Vice-President could not attend because of an iftar President Pranab Mukherjee hosted on Friday evening.
The event, organised at Palika Services Officers Institute in Nehru Park along with Urdu Academy, did not appear to be a common man’s affair. Amid many tents for general guests, an enclosure was erected for Kejriwal and other “well connected” guests.
Quite a few guests even left fuming when they were not allowed entry into the VIP enclosure.
In addition to a dozen of fans, 10 heavy duty coolers were placed around the neatly carpeted VIP enclosure. A dark red carpet led the guests to the enclosure.
The iftar was, however, well planned. No mad rush for food was witnessed as there were enough counters for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian items.
Not many AAP functionaries were seen at the event. However, most party MLAs as well as deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia were among the key guests.