AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to be elevated as cabinet ministers: Sources

A day after Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain resigned from their posts as Cabinet ministers, AAP convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have recommended the names of two new candidates to fill the vacant position.

According to the sources, Kejriwal has sent the names of two MLAs Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi Marlena to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena recommending them to be elevated as cabinet ministers. The latest resignation of both the AAP ministers came up on Tuesday evening  and was accepted by Arvind Kejriwal also accepted the resignation. Sisodia headed 18 departments and as sources had said those department will be redistributed to senior AAP leaders Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s plea against his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the liquor policy case, the two arrested ministers of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – Sisodia and Satyendar Jain – submitted their resignations. The apex court refused to entertain Sisodia's plea challenging his arrest by the CBI and said that it will not interfere in the matter. The top court further asked his legal counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi to approach the Delhi High Court.

The development came after Sisodia was arrested on February 26 in connection with the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Excise Policy for 2021-22. AAP workers held sit-in protests on roads and chanted slogans while some staged a foot march wearing handcuffs against the BJP in the national capital. The workers were seen attempting to cross the barricades as the police tried to push them back. The police asked the party workers to step inside the office.

It is pertinent to mention that BJP is going to hold a Jan Jagaran protest against CM Arvind Kejriwal demanding his resignation amid the corruption fiasco.