AAP’s Kejriwal sworn in as Delhi chief minister

Just a week after leading his Aam Aadmi Party to a stunning landslide victory defeating BJP in Delhi assembly elections, Arvind Kejriwal today took oath as Chief Minister of the city-state at a mega ceremony, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Attended by thousands of AAP supporters, Kejriwal and six of his key ministers Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Imran Hussain and Rajendra Gautam were also sworn in.

In a brief address after the swearing-in function at Ramlila Maidan, Kejriwal, 49, a former Indian Revenue Service officer, said "now that elections are over, the politics is also over and he has 'forgiven' his political opponents for the remarks they made during the poll campaign."

"During campaigns, politics takes place and it did. I forgive you for all the things you have said against me, I request you also to forget all negative things.  We have to work together for the progress of Delhi.  We will work with the Centre too," Kejriwal said.

During the high-octane election campaign, BJP leaders had accused Kejriwal of being an "anarchist and terrorist" although they denied it later. 

Aam Aadmi Party returned to power for the third consecutive time with 62 seats – just five seats short of its 2015 tally of 67 seats -- at the end of one of the most polarising campaigns in the backdrop of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests.

Kejriwal said he wants to work in coordination with the BJP-led central government and also sought Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blessings for smooth governance of the national capital.

"I had invited the prime minister too, but maybe he was busy with some other work. I want to say through this platform, I want his and everyone elses blessing," he was quoted as saying according to our New Delhi correspondent.

Modi did not attend Kejriwal's oath-taking ceremony as he is on a visit to his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.

In his two earlier tenures, Kejriwal had had several run-ins with the Modi government.