NEW DELHI: Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj and Kalkaji MLA Atishi will be the two new faces in CM Arvind Kejriwal’s council of ministers.Kejriwal on Wednesday sent the recommendation to elevate Bharadwaj (43) and Atishi (41), both trusted aides, as ministers in his cabinet, to lieutenant governor V K Saxena. The duo will replace incarcerated legislators Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, who resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday saying they didn’t want people’s work to be affected in their absence.While Bharadwaj is a three-term MLA who also served in Kejriwal’s first government of 49 days in 2013-14 as transport and environment minister, Atishi was elected to Delhi assembly for the first time in 2020. Apart from being the chief spokesperson of AAP, Bharadwaj is currently entrusted with the responsibility of cleaning the Yamuna and taking piped water to every household in his capacity as the vice chairman of the Delhi Jal Board while Atishi has worked closely with Sisodia on improving the city’s schools and education system. She is also among the most vocal leaders of AAP.Sources said once the President approves the resignations of Sisodia and Jain, the file to nominate Bharadwaj and Atishi to the cabinet would be sent to her. “Only after their nominations to the cabinet are approved will the date of their oath be decided,” said a Delhi government official.This is the second time that a cabinet rejig has been necessitated in this term of the AAP government. In October last year, Rajendra Pal Gautam was replaced with Raaj Kumar Anand after the former resigned following a row around his presence at a religious conversion event.Centre using all its might to crush AAP: Saurabh BharadwajManish Sisodia, who held 18 important portfolios, resigned from the council of ministers after his arrest by the CBI in the excise policy probe. Former health minister Satyendar Jain, who was arrested in May last year by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case but remained in the cabinet without a portfolio, also tendered his resignation. His portfolios were later given to Sisodia. Portfolios held by Sisodia and Jain were redistributed late on Tuesday between existing ministers Raaj Kumar Anand and Kailash Gahlot.A software developer by profession, Saurabh Bharadwaj joined the India Against Corruption movement in 2011 and later became the founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party. A popular leader in his area, he contested the 2013, 2015 and 2020 elections from Greater Kailash and won comfortably. Though he was a minister in the first stint of the AAP government, he was not picked for the cabinet in 2015. He, however, was made Delhi state secretary and national spokesperson.Talking to TOI, Bharadwaj said it was a matter of pride for him to be elevated as a minister in these trying times. “These are challenging times for AAP when the central government is using all its might to crush AAP. It is a matter of great pride for me that CM Arvind Kejriwal reposed faith in me and recommended my name to be a minister in his cabinet,” Bharadwaj said. “I will continue to work for the people of Delhi.”A masters in history from Oxford and a Rhodes scholar, Atishi also came into politics through the India Against Corruption movement. She is currently a national executive and Public Accounts Committee member of the Aam Aadmi Party. She is known for her work to revamp Delhi’s education system in her role as adviser to Sisodia. She also worked as chairperson of the standing committee on education of the Delhi assembly.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/aaps-saurabh-bharadwaj-atishi-to-replace-manish-sisodia-satyendar-jain-in-delhi-cabinet/articleshow/98346479.cms
