AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj were on Tuesday appointed as ministers in the Delhi cabinet by President Droupadi Murmu.
A notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated that the President has appointed Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj as ministers in the Delhi cabinet on the advice of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with effect from the date they are sworn in.
This comes after President Murmu accepted the resignations of Manish Sisodia, who quit last week after his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy scam case, and Satyendar Jain, who was arrested last May in a money laundering case. Jain resigned on the same day as Sisodia. The two leaders are currently lodged in Tihar jail.
Following these resignations, two Cabinet berths had fallen vacant. CM Kejriwal then recommended the names of Atishi (who goes only by her first name) and Bharadwaj, both his trusted aides, for elevation as Cabinet ministers.
Bharadwaj, who is also AAP’s national spokesperson, is currently the vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board. The MLA from Greater Kailash was also a minister during the first stint of the AAP government.
Atishi, who represents the Kalkaji assembly seat, has been a key member of Sisodia’s education team. She had also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi constituency but lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir.
Following their resignations, some of Sisodia’s and Jain’s portfolios were given to Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot and Social Welfare Minister Rajkumar Anand.
AAP’s second-in-command, Sisodia handled most of the crucial departments of the city government, holding as many as 18 of the 33 departments. His workload increased manifold after Jain’s arrest as he helmed the latter’s portfolios also such as health, industries, power, home, urban development, irrigation and flood control, and water.
Jain continued to be a minister in the Delhi government even after his arrest but without any portfolio.
Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation last Sunday in connection with alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.
(With PTI inputs)
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