AMN / WEB DESK

Unhappy over not provided seat, former Union Minister and BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Harsh Vardhan on Thursday left the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-appointed Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena at Raj Niwas.

Vardhan, who represents the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha said in a tweet that he was asked by an officer to vacate the seat, stating that it was reserved. After waiting for 15 minutes, he left the venue when no seat was given to him, Vardhan said.

In a video that went viral on social media, Vardhan was seen leaving the venue. When asked what had happened, he was heard saying: “I will write to Vinai Kumar Saxena ji that this is the arrangement. They have not provided any seat for even MPs.” After taking oath as the 22nd L-G of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena did not comment when asked about Vardhan leaving the swearing-in ceremony.

“It was wrongly reported by the media that (I) left the oath-taking ceremony of the L-G because I did not get the desired seat. I sat where one officer seated me, but another officer made me vacate it saying that it was reserved. I waited for 15 minutes for a seat to be provided and left when it was not given,” Vardhan tweeted in Hindi. He also regretted that despite being an MP from Delhi, he could not participate in the oath ceremony of the new L-G and congratulated Saxena, saying Delhi will emerge as the best city under his tenure.

Rohan Gupta, the social media in charge of the Congress, shared a video on his Twitter handle where a visibly angry Vardhan was seen leaving the venue, and when someone asked, “What happened, sir?”, he replied, “They have not provided any seat for even Parliament Members.”

“Does Indian Godi Media have the guts to upload this video? Looks like BJP MP Dr Harshvardhan is very angry for not getting a seat in at the oath-taking ceremony of Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.

This is what happens to ex. Ministers & senior leaders in BJP,” tweeted Rohan Gupta. As expected, the video went viral on Twitter, and was widely shared on the social networking site.

All MPs from Delhi, including seven Lok Sabha MPs of the BJP were invited to the ceremony. North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari and West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma were seen sitting in back rows of sofas for dignitaries. Union Ministers Giriraj Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi were also present in the ceremony.