Alumni throng Ramlila Maidan as IITian takes oath as Delhi CM

NEW DELHI: A number of former IITians, including batchmates of Arvind Kejriwal at the IIT Kharagpur, were at the Ramlila Maidan to witness his swearing-in ceremony as the Delhi Chief Minister today.

IITians have a special place for Kejriwal as they identify themselves with him, which is why a number of them came. Apart from Kejriwal, former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar is also a former IITian from Bombay.

An ardent supporter of Kejriwal, Subrata Saha, his batchmate from the IIT, also made it to the swearing ceremony. A Dubai based businessman who deals in chemicals, Saha was one of the 11 people who was nominated by Kejriwal to raise funds when the party launched 'I support Honest Politics' donation campaign.

"I was here for campaigning for the assembly election and then I went back to Dubai. But I have again returned for the swearing ceremony," Saha said.

Revealing Kejriwal's fondness for movies, Saha said the Delhi chief minister particularly liked the Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit starer Tezab, and had watched it several times. But what attracted Saha to him was Kejriwal's "positive commitment and sensitivity towards society".

Another IITian and Kejriwal's junior Prasanjit Pratik was also present for the swearing ceremony and so was Arvind Jha.

Pratik, who owns a software company in Bhubaneshwar, helped party in the field of Information Technology while Jha is in the Finance team of the party.

"There are some 15-20 IITians in the ground to witness the ceremony," Pratik said.