A day after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and his cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain resigned from the Delhi Cabinet, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has proposed to divide the 18 departments that Sisodia held among ministers Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand, proposal for which has been sent to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, reported The Indian Express.
Gahlot will hold Finance, PWD, Home, Power, Planning, Urban Development, Irrigation and flood control and Water portfolios, along with the departments he is in charge of, including Revenue, Transport and Law and Justice.
Anand, on the other hand, will be Delhi’s new Education, Health, Vigilance, Industries, Services, Tourism, Art and Culture, Land and Building, Labour and Employment minister, and will continue to head the Social Welfare and Welfare of SC/ST departments.
Along with Sisodia, former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain also tendered his resignation. Jain is accused of alleged money laundering and has been lodged in Tihar jail since May last year. The exit of the two ministers brings down the strength of the Delhi cabinet to five. According to rules, there can be seven members in the Delhi Cabinet, including the CM.
Meanwhile, the names of AAP MLAs Saurabh Bharadwaj (Greater Kailash), Atishi (Kalkaji), Dilip Pandey (Timarpur) and Durgesh Pathak (Rajinder Nagar) are being considered for the cabinet posts, party insiders said, reported IE.
Three-time MLA, Bharadwaj, was the Transport minister earlier and is the Delhi Jal Board vice chairperson. Atishi has worked with Sisodia closely on education, and Pandey is the chief whip of the party.
Durgesh Pathak is part of the party’s highest decision-making body – the Political Affairs Committee.
Bharadwaj had said earlier that two new people will be appointed to the Cabinet, and the process will start, for which there “was no timeline”, adding that the situation needed to be tackled “practically”.