Modi unable to travel to Jharkhand for Raghuvar Das swearing-in

New Delhi

Dense fog here today forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to cancel their visit to Jharkhand to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister-designate Raghuvar Das.

“Was to travel to Jharkhand to attend the oath taking ceremony of Shri Raghubar Das but am unable to do so due to weather conditions,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

“I would like to congratulate Shri Raghubar Das on taking over as Jharkhand CM & convey my best wishes to him,” he said.

BJP chief Amit Shah was also to travel but could not travel to Ranchi for the swearing-in ceremony due to dense fog in Delhi, BJP media in-charge Shrikant Sharma said

In another tweet, Modi said, “People of Jharkhand voted for stability. I congratulate them & pray that Jharkhand scales new heights of progress in the coming years,” he said.

The Prime Minister was scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony at Birsa Munda Football Stadium in Ranchi today.

After being elected as BJP?s legislature party leader, Das had staked claim to form the tenth government on Friday at the head of BJP/AJSU alliance.

Das would be the sixth individual after Babulal Marandi (once), Arjun Munda (thrice), Shibu Soren (thrice), Madhu Koda (once) and Hemant Soren (once) to be the CM of Jharkhand.

During his election rallies, Modi had repeatedly appealed to the people to vote for a clear majority and prevent political instability in Jharkhand which had seen nine governments in its 14-year history.

BJP and AJSU together won 42 of the total of 81 seats.

Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled Chhatisgarh and Uttarakhand—Raman Singh and and Shivraj Singh Chauhan—are among several dignitaries invited to the oath-taking ceremony.

Delhi records season”s lowest, dense fog hits flights

Delhi today recorded the lowest temperature of the season with the mercury dipping to 2.6 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal, with dense fog affecting 55 flights and about 70 trains.

“The minimum temperature recorded at 8.30 AM was 2.6 degree Celsius. The humidity recorded was 97 per cent and the visibility was less than 50 metres,” a MeT official said.

The weatherman has predicted a clear sky ahead.

“The maximum temperature is likely to settle at 19.2 degree Celsius and the minimum is likely to touch 3 degrees,” the official said.

According to airport authorities, flight operations were severely affected.

“55 flights were delayed due to fog and 3 international flights were diverted,” they said.

Early morning dense fog also affected movement of about 70 trains including 50 north-bound trains. Four trains had to be cancelled and six of them rescheduled, a Northern Railway spokesperson said.

Yesterday, the national capital had recorded the second lowest temperature of the season with mercury dipping to 4.8 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, though the afternoon was comparatively warmer.

The maximum temperature settled at 19.2 degrees Celsius.

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