Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal both attended the Bengal Global Business Summit on Friday, but there was no sign of any change in their frosty relations.
Mr Jaitley and Mr Kejriwal, who are locked in a bitter political and legal battle over corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), did not even shake hands in Kolkata.
There was only a formal namaskar that was also totally devoid of any warmth. This was the first time that the two were seen together on the same stage since the filing of a criminal defamation and a civil suit against chief minister Kejriwal by Mr Jaitley.
Although they were sitting in the front row, they were separated by two chairs occupied by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.
Mr Jaitley delivered his speech and left before Mr Kejriwal rose to speak. The Delhi chief minister in his speech patted his own government for the successful implementation of the odd-even scheme to reduce pollution in the state. “The remarkable success of the odd-even scheme has showed to our critics that we are not anarchists. We can govern too,” he said.
Mr Jaitley and Mr Kejriwal had also come face to face on Thursday night at the eco-park where the Ms Banerjee had hosted a dinner for the delegates of the business summit.
Significantly, Mr Jaitley and Mr Kejriwal shared stage in Kolkata at a time when, in Delhi, the Centre declared “unconstitutional and illegal” the Gopal Subramaniam-led inquiry panel set up by the Delhi government to probe the DDCA scam.
