PM Modi wishes Kejriwal on his 47th b'day

 

"Spoke to Delhi CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal & wished him on his birthday. My prayers for his long life and good health," PM Modi tweeted ahead of leaving for his visit to UAE.

Kejriwal also thanked the Prime Minister for the wishes.

"@narendramodi Thank u so much sir for your wishes. I am touched. I look forward to meeting u soon to brief u on Delhi's situation," Kejriwal posted.

Born on Aug 16, 1968  in a middle-class family in Siwani, Bhiwani district of Haryana, Arvind Kejriwal is an IITian. He is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of the ivy league Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, and worked for the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) as a Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax Department. 

Kejriwal is married to Sunita, his batch mate from National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie and the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur. They have two children.

Kejriwal's entry into politics is a product of the Anna Hazare movement against corruption and in demand of the Jan Lokpal Bill to root out corruption in high places.

But even before the Anna movement started in 2011-2012, Kejriwal was in social work. In 2006, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership recognising his involvement in a grassroots movement Parivartan using right-to-information legislation in a campaign against corruption.

He quit his job the same year and used the award money as a corpus fund to found the NGO, Public Cause Research Foundation.

In 2012, he launched the Aam Aadmi Party and defeated Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly election. Though he became a CM on Dec 28, 2013 with Congress support, he resigned 49 days later on Feb 14 2014 for apparently failing to pass the anti-corruption legislation- Jan Lokpal- since no party was ready to support him.

But the Muffler Man, as he is referred to often for wrapping the muffler, remained a symbol of Aam Aadmi of Delhi who chose to give him a second chance finally.

He won the Delhi elections second time by capturing 67 of the 70 seats, which had stunned even his own supporters.