After days of speculation about the look of the Kejriwal Cabinet, the AAP leadership on Thursday sent to the lieutenant Governor a list of names likely to be sworn as Ministers. The list has all new faces except Kejriwal’s close aide Manish Sisodia and former Health Minister in the last Delhi Cabinet Satyendra Kumar Jain.
Manish Sisodia is expected to be Deputy CM. Besides that, he might retain his previously held ministries — Education and Urban Development. His former Cabinet colleagues like Somnath Bharti, Girish Soni, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Rakhi Birla are reported to be out of the list.
Sources said that there is no woman in the list which included Tri Nagar MlA Jitendra Tomar, Sultanpur MlA Sandeep Kumar and Matia Mahal MlA Asim Ahmed Khan. AAP’s Shahadra MlA Ram Niwas Goel is expected to be the Speaker of the Assembly, while Shalimar Bagh MlA Bandana Kumari likely to be Deputy Speaker. The name of senior AAP leader Gopal Rai is also there in the list.
The new Cabinet will be sworn in on Saturday when Arvind Kejriwal takes oath as Chief Minister. Sisodia was de facto number two in the previous AAP Government and had handled important portfolios like education, urban development, PWD, land and buildings.
Satyendra Kumar Jain, a two-time MlA from Shakur Basti who handled the health portfolio in the previous AAP Government, is likely to retain his portfolio. “There is a lot of brainstorming going on in the party. But it would not be right to talk about it until it is formally announced,” said Sisodia.
However, sources confirmed that an early reshuffle in the Cabinet may happen. “Right now the Cabinet plan has been made keeping only a few things in mind. The party will definitely brainstorm more in the coming days and that may lead to a few changes as well. Also depending on performance, changes will be made,” said sources.
The decision to make Sisodia Deputy CM and about other names for Cabinet berths was taken at a meeting of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on Wednesday night at Kejriwal’s residence in Kaushambi.
Sources claimed the Deputy CM title is being given to Sisodia to take up responsibility, so that Kejriwal can focus on building the party at the national level. The PAC also planned expert committees under each department to monitor the progress of work.