Wait for new Delhi CM to end tomorrow; PM, ministers, celebrities to attend February 20 oath

New Delhi: Delhi's wait for its new chief minister after the assembly polls will end on Wednesday, when the BJP Legislature Party is slated to choose the Leader of the House, even as preparations for the February 20 oath-taking ceremony are in full swing at the historic Ramlila Ground here.

Party leaders said the chief minister and the entire Cabinet will take oath at a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister and other dignitaries.

A huge crowd is expected at the event and around 40 celebrities have been invited, sources said, adding the ceremony would be held around noon rather than 4.30 pm, as was communicated by party leaders earlier.

BJP MP Yogender Chandolia said preparations for the ceremony are in full swing at the Ramlila Ground.

"Around 50,000 people, including party workers, RWA, sections of society and saints, will be invited. It will be a grand event in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet ministers will be present. It will last around 25-30 minutes," the Northwest Delhi MP said.

They will celebrate the occasion across Delhi with drumbeats and make people feel the change has now started, he said.

He said the Ramleela Ground was chosen as the venue for the ceremony as people from various walks of life want to be part of the event and the space at the Raj Niwas could not have accommodated them all.

The newly-elected BJP legislature party will meet at the party's Delhi unit office to elect the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday. The meeting is expected to be held in the evening, party leaders said.

The chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states, including Gujarat, may skip the oath-taking ceremony because of their preoccupation with presentation of budget in those states.

The Ramleela Ground and surrounding areas, including roads, pavements and medians, were cleaned and freshly painted.

Party leaders said around one lakh people are expected to throng the whole area as there was a lot of enthusiasm among residents over the BJP forming its government in Delhi after more than 26 years, party leaders said.

The party ended the 10 year-rule of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi by winning 48 of the 70 Assembly seats in the February 5 polls.

The venue will have three stages with dignitaries, including the prime minister, Delhi LG V K Saxena, BJP President J P Nadda, the new chief minister and members of his or her Cabinet seated at the central stage.

It will be flanked by the two stages on which other dignitaries, including Union ministers, politicians, chief ministers of other states will be seated.

Officials said that as per protocol, outgoing Delhi chief minister Atishi and her predecessor and three time chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will also be invited to the oath ceremony.

The names doing the rounds for the new chief minister include Parvesh Verma, who defeated Kejriwal; former Delhi BJP presidents Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay; and other leaders such as Pawan Sharma, Ashish Sood, Rekha Gupta, and Shikha Rai.

The names of Ravinder Indraj Singh, the MLA from Bawana (SC) seat, and Kailash Gangwal, who won the Madipur (SC) seat for the BJP for the first time, are also being discussed.

Many within the party believe that the BJP leadership could choose a "dark horse" as Delhi's next chief minister, a strategy the party opted for in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh.

Earlier the day, BJP leaders Tarun Chugh and Vinod Tavde, in-charge of the swearing-in ceremony, and Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva took stock of the preparations at the Ramlila Ground, not very far from the New Delhi Railway Station.

Chugh told reporters that the people of Delhi have blessed the BJP and Prime Minister Modi with a historic mandate, and they are eager to be part of the ceremony.

It will be a historic event on February 20. Every section of society is excited and want to be part of the programme, he said.

"Preparations are going on at war footing for the historic event at the Ramlila Ground on February 20. Every section of society in Delhi wants to be part of this historic event and the BJP has got down to fulfil their wish," he said.

On Tuesday, a series of meetings were held at the Delhi BJP office on Pant Marg that was decorated with party flags, posters and banners, to discuss the meeting of the legislature party and the swearing-in ceremony.