Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Kapil Mishra was named as a new law Minister replacing Jitender Singh Tomar, who had resigned from the post on Tuesday night following his arrest on charge of possessing fake degrees. “I had a meeting with Arvind (Kejriwal) and have been informed about the development (of appointment as the law Minister),” Mishra, a first time MlA, told PTI.
34-year-old Mishra’s name was also doing rounds for a ministerial berth when the AAP had won a landslide victory in February this year. However, he was made the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board. Known as a Kejriwal loyalist, Mishra has been associated with him since the India against Corruption (IAC) days. Mishra’s mother Anapurna Mishra was Mayor of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
When Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan upped their arms against the party leadership, Kapil Mishra took a lead in a signature campaign urging all MlAs to back Kejriwal. Mishra, a former activist with an international organisation, won from Karawal Nagar by a margin of over 44,000 votes and took oath in Sanskrit in the Delhi Assembly.
He has worked for non-governmental organisations like Greenpeace and Amnesty International. He is also the co-founder and coordinator of a New Delhi-based Youth for Justice. He has been involved in campaigning on various social issues. Mishra also led a protest over the Jessical lal murder case, demanding justice for her.
In 2007, he had also raised his voice against the exploitation of the Yamuna river in the Delhi Assembly, after which he had been detained for a day. He was also one of the first people to protest against the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam. In fact, he also wrote a book called ‘It’s Common v/s Wealth - Exposing Commonwealth Games 2010’ on the issue which was released in 2010.