Arrested Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and his colleague in the Government Satyendar Jain on Tuesday resigned from the Kejriwal Cabinet amid corruption allegations against them. According to officials, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accepted their resignations.
Sisodia was in charge of 18 of 33 departments in the Delhi Government, including finance, health, revenue, public works department. He had taken over nine from Jain when the latter was arrested.
In a late night development, Sisodia’s portfolios were divided between Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot Gahlot and Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand as a temporary arrangement. Gahlot has been given the additional charge of finance and power departments, while Anand will be handling education and health departments, officials said on Tuesday.
“Till the time new ministers are appointed, the allotment of additional portfolios for the interim period will see Gahlot taking care of finance, planning, public works department, power, home, urban development, irrigation and flood control, and water along with his existing departments.”
The resignations of the two AAP bigwigs came minutes after the Supreme Court refused to entertain the bail plea of Sisodia, who is in CBI custody in the now-scrapped excise policy case.
Following the arrest of Sisodia, the BJP and the Congress had stepped up their demand for sacking of Sisodia and Jain from the Cabinet.
AAP national spokesperson Bhardwaj said, “It is unfortunate for the entire country that leaders, who were known and popular for their work, have been trapped. The Centre is targeting State Governments which work hard and relentlessly for development.”
While the BJP termed the resignation of Sisodia and Jain a “victory of truth and the party workers,” claiming that Kejriwal will have to resign too.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva and party MP Manoj Tiwari trained their guns at the ruling party and Kejriwal.
Jain has been lodged in Tihar Jail in a money laundering case since May last year but he was still in the Cabinet without portfolio.
Both Sisodia and Jain are considered close confidantes of Kejriwal and played a major role to expand the AAP base.
His arrest came just ahead of the Delhi Government Budget. Before the duo’s resignation, the Delhi Government had a total of six Ministers with Sisodia handling 18 portfolios. Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Raj Kumar Anand are the other Ministers.
According to AAP leaders, Sisodia’s workload had almost doubled after Jain’s arrest, and he was handling most of the crucial departments of the city government. Both have led what the AAP describes as the “successful transformation” of Delhi’s education and health services, contributing to the party’s popularity and continued electoral success.
Gahlot already holds charge of six departments: law, transport, revenue, administrative reforms, information technology, and women and child development. Anand, on the other hand, is the minister for Gurudwara Elections, SC and ST, social welfare, and cooperative.
