Continuity the buzz as Arvind Kejriwal 3.0 takes charge in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who took charge of the new government with six other cabinet ministers on Monday, will not be holding any department for now. Day-1 of AAP government 3.0, however, made it clear that continuity would be the buzzword with minimal changes to portfolios of ministers sworn in.

The portfolios of all ministers in the last cabinet are intact with minor changes though the Delhi Jal Board, which was under the CM, has been assigned to Satyendra Jain who also heads power, health and PWD departments.

Rajendra Pal Gautam, however, has been given additional responsibility of women and child department in addition to the department for social welfare and minorities. Department of environment, which was headed by Imran Hussain, and later transferred to transport minister Kailash Gahlot, is now Gopal Rai’s charge. Rai also heads the labour and agriculture department among others, while Gahlot stays law minister.

Kejriwal, in consultation with colleagues, is believed to have decided not to substitute previous ministers with new faces to avoid disruption & maintain continuity.

However, the thrust remains on the party’s public welfare profile as underlined in a ‘Guarantee Card’ signed by the CM during AAP’s Assembly election campaign, with 10 key promises in different sectors, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

Sisodia has retained all departments which he helmed in the last government, except for the department for women and child welfare. The government is also to focus on many key projects like installing CCTV cameras, pushing the Mukhyamantri Streetlight Yojna and Mukhyamantri Bijli metre Yojna-all areas where considerable work needs to be done.

Construction of 10,000 new classrooms and converting all the public schools in Delhi into co-education are also among the big plans in Sisodia’s domain even as he handles education and finance. In addition, construction of new hospitals and increase in number of beds are priority targets of AAP.  

Meanwhile, all ministers reached their offices at the Delhi secretariat early Monday and met their respective staff. There was, however, a twist in the Monday tale with the Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor writing to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting an amendment in Article 239 (5) to make inclusion of women minister mandatory in Delhi government. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government has no woman minister.