President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday cleared the appointments of AAP MLAs Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi to the Delhi cabinet, and also accepted the resignations of jailed former ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain. According to sources, Atishi and Bharadwaj will take oath on Thursday. Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena will administer the oath to two ministers.
The development came after the President accepted the resignation of AAP ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain on Tuesday. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had forwarded the names to the Lieutenant Governor for their appointment to the Cabinet.
Both Sisodia and Jain are currently in Tihar jail in the alleged corruption and money laundering cases respectively. "The President is pleased to accept, on the advice of the Chief Minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, the resignation of Shri Manish Sisodia, a Minister in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, with immediate effect," an official notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
A similar notification was issued with regards to Jain. The Delhi council of ministers now has a strength of five, including CM Arvind Kejriwal, who doesn't hold any portfolios.
Till Atishi and Bhardwaj are inducted into the cabinet, ministers Raaj Kumar Anand and Kailash Gahlot will take care of the portfolios that have fallen vacant following Sisodia's resignation.
While Gahlot has been given the additional charge of finance, PWD along with some departments, Anand, who is also the social welfare minister, will take care of education, health and other departments.
Meanwhile, Delhi Congress had urged the Lieutenant Governor not to appoint Bharadwaj and Atishi in the ministers as both of them were also in the ambit of the liquor scam probe Bharadwaj has been an MLA of the AAP since 2013 and is currently the vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board. He was a minister of the short-lived first Kejriwal government in 2013. He is the MLA from Greater Kailash.
Atishi is an MLA of the AAP since 2020 and has been associated with the party since its inceptionAtishi represents the Kalkaji constituency and has been a key member of Manish Sisodia's education team. She had also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi constituency and lost to BJP's Gautam Gambhir.
Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor or excise policy for 2021-22.He is currently in judicial custody, till March 20.
Jain, who is also in judicial custody, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case of alleged money laundering on May 30, 2022.