New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS) Delhi’s new Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s journey from his home in Kaushambi, just outside Delhi, to the legislative assembly Thursday was an unusual sight for many Delhiites, so used to making way for flashing beacons and blaring sirens.
Travelling in his blue-coloured WagonR car, without any police escort vehicles, the car stopped at all the four traffic lights that fell on the 16 km journey from his home to the Vidhan Sabha in north Delhi to prove his government’s majority in the house. The Aam Aadmi Party won the trust vote later.
This IANS correspondent followed the car for the whole 16 km journey from Ghaziabad to the Vidhan Sabha and witnessed the surprised faces of many motorists waiting at traffic signals, who suddenly realized that person seated in the car next to them was none other than Delhi’s new chief minister.
People traveling on two wheelers, cars and auto rickshaws not only clicked photos but many shook their hands with Kejriwal while waiting for the signal to turn green. Some saluted and waved at the chief minister.
Waiting at a traffic light near Krishna Nagar in east Delhi, a man, upon seeing Kejriwal, seated in the car, parked his two-wheeler on the roadside and along with his 12-year-old daughter came to meet him.
Kejriwal rolled down the window and, after a short chat, patted the girl’s head before the car drove off as the light turned green.
Delhi Traffic Police officers, who otherwise are seen blowing whistles frantically and clearing traffic whenever there’s a ‘VIP movement’, remained in the dark about the chief minister’s movements and some realised he had passed by only much later.