Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Dec 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Amit Shah Sunday failed to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Jharkhand’s new Chief Minister Raghubar Das (59), due to bad weather.
Thick fog in northern India prevented Modi from flying from New Delhi and Rajnath Singh from Lucknow. ‘‘I would like to congratulate Raghubar Das on taking over as Jharkhand CM and convey my best wishes to him,’’ Modi tweeted.
‘‘Was to travel to Jharkhand to attend the oath-taking ceremony but am unable to do so due to weather conditions,’’ he added.
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Das took oath as the 10th Chief Minister of Jharkhand, the first non-tribal to occupy the post.
Modi said the people of Jharkhand had voted for stability. ‘‘I congratulate them and pray that Jharkhand scales new heights of progress in the coming years.’’
Sunday was the season’s coldest day in Delhi at 2.6 degrees Celsius. This was accompanied by thick fog that reduced visibility to less than 50 metres at most places.
Rajnath Singh said he would not be able to attend the Ranchi event due to dense fog.
Meanwhile, Das was sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Minister at the head of a five-member BJP-AJSU coalition government, becoming the first non-tribal leader to rule the state. Governor Syed Ahmed administered the oath of office at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium at Ranchi.
Nilkanth Singh Munda, Chandreswar Prasad Singh, Louis Marandi (all BJP) and Chandraprakash Choudhary (AJSU) were also sworn-in as cabinet ministers in the new government.
Das became the tenth Chief Minister after Babulal Marandi (once), Arjun Munda (thrice), Shibu Soren (thrice), Madhu Koda (once) and Hemant Soren (once) in 14 years after Jharkhand was created.