BJP upset as Mayor not invited to receive baton

Stating that Delhi's first citizen, the Mayor was not invited, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) boycotted the functions marking the arrival of Queen's Baton in Gurgaon and Delhi on Thursday ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

Stating that Delhi's first citizen, the Mayor was not invited, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) boycotted the functions marking the arrival of Queen's Baton in Gurgaon and Delhi on Thursday ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

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The Queen's Baton reached city's Kapashera border in the morning wherein Delhi's Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely represented the Capital.

Later in the day, when a function was held in Delhi to mark the Baton's arrival at the Games' Organising Committee office, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit hogged all the limelight.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi's Leader of the House Subhash Arya said, "In cities across the world, the Baton is received by the Mayor. In the first function, they sent Lovely while Dikshit herself attended the second function."

"They did not even bother to invite Mayor PR Sawhney. He has been sidelined just because he is from a different political party. He is not a BJP Mayor but 'Mayor of Delhi'. (So) we boycotted both the functions."

Asked if the BJP would boycott the Commonwealth Games, Arya said, "Of course, we will not boycott the Games in the national interest."

Arya was also critical of the fact that the Delhi Government made no delay in approaching the MCD when it needed urgent help in cleaning the Commonwealth Games Village and other important Games venues, where the MCD staff has been working round-the-clock.