Excluding Kejrwal From Metro Inauguration ‘Cheap Mentality’: AAP

Metro’s newly-built Magenta Line will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 December 2017.

File image of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

(Photo: PTI)

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not be a part of the inauguration of a section of Delhi Metro's newly-built Magenta Line to be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 December 2017, a government official said.

The official said that the Delhi government does not have any official intimation for the programme to be held in Uttar Pradesh. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), however, said it has not sent out invites since the Uttar Pradesh government was organising the event.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh criticised the Narendra Modi-led Central government for its "hatred" towards Arvind Kejriwal, terming the Delhi Chief Minister's exclusion from the inauguration of Delhi Metro's Magenta Line their "cheap mentality".

This means BJP-led central government has so much hatred against the Delhi Chief Minsiter that the Prime Minister doesn’t like to sit or stand with him. Ye unki ochi manasikta ko darshaata hai (this shows their cheap mentality)

Sanjay Singh

The DMRC is not inviting anyone. We haven’t sent out invites since the UP government is organising the event. So we do not have any say on the list of invitees.

A Delhi Metro Official

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also attend the event.

In 2015, when the Prime Minister had flagged off the Faridabad corridor, the Metro had sent out media invites in coordination with the Haryana government. An anonymous metro official said that this time no such invite has come.

The new Magenta Line, 12.64-km section, part of the upcoming Botanical Garden (Noida)-Janakpuri West (Delhi) corridor, has nine stations and is set to be inaugurated by Modi. After the new section of the Delhi Metro is opened, commuters will be able to travel directly to the Kalkaji Mandir Metro Station from Botanical Garden in 19 minutes.

Furthermore, the travel time Blue and Violet lines of the metro takes 52 minutes with interchange point at the Mandi House station.

Metro's new generation trains, which can run without drivers, will run on this section aided by the Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling technology.

(With inputs from PTI, IANS)