New Delhi: Three days after he took oath as the chief minister of Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday afternoon.
Kejriwal described it as "a good meeting held in a cordial atmosphere".
"We held discussions on various issues. We agreed that the central government and the Delhi government need to work together for the development of Delhi. We will work together," he said.
In his address after taking oath on February 16, Kejriwal had said he wanted to work in harmony with the BJP-led central government to make Delhi the number one city and had sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blessings for smooth governance in the Capital.
When asked by reporters after the meeting if he and Shah had spoken about the issue of Shaheen Bagh, Kejriwal said, "There was no discussion on that."
Striking a conciliatory note after his stupendous victory in the Assembly polls by bagging 62 of the 70 seats, Kejriwal, whose previous tenure was marred by several run-ins with the Centre, termed himself Delhi's "son" and the "chief of minister of all" people irrespective of the party they have voted for.
Kejriwal sought cooperation from his rivals -- the BJP and Congress -- saying he has "forgiven" them for the remarks made against him during the high-octane poll campaign.
The BJP had mounted one of its most aggressive campaigns in the Delhi Assembly polls. Several BJP leaders had made controversial and even incendiary remarks against their rivals, prompting the Election Commission to take serious action, like barring Union minister Anurag Thakur and MP Parvesh Verma from campaigning. Verma in a public meeting had termed Kejriwal a "terrorist".
Kejriwal had extended an invitation to Modi to attend his oath-taking ceremony. However, the latter was in constituency Varanasi on Sunday where he inaugurated several projects.
"I had invited the prime minister but he could not come as he may have been busy. We want to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi's blessings for smooth governance of Delhi," Kejriwal said in his nearly 20-minute address.
The prime minister, however, extended wishes to Kejriwal on Twitter to which the chief minister responded: "Thank you for the warm wishes sir. I wish you could come today, but I understand you were busy. We must now work together towards making Delhi a city of pride for all Indians."
Last week, Shah had admitted that hate speeches by certain BJP leaders should not have been made ahead of elections. He also admitted his "assessment" about the number of seats the party would have won has gone wrong.
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