Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj In Arvind Kejriwal Govt: Which Portfolios Did They Get?

AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi were inducted into the Delhi cabinet as they were sworn in as ministers by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday.

Atishi has been allotted Education, PWD, Power, and Tourism portfolios. Whereas, Saurabh Bharadwaj got Health, Water, and Industries and Urban Development.

Arvind Kejriwal recommended names of leaders

The development came after the resignations of former AAP ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain were accepted by President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday. Both of them currently are in Tihar jail in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

On the recommendation of the Delhi Chief Minister, President Murmu appointed Atishi and Bharadwaj as ministers in the Delhi cabinet.

Atishi is the first female Minister in the current Cabinet and she is also a member of the AAP's political affairs committee, which is the party's top decision-making body. She represents the party from the Kalkaji constituency. 

Before this, Saurabh was the party's national spokesperson and also served as the vice chairman of the Delhi Jal Board. The legislator from Greater Kailash was also a minister during the first tenure of the AAP government.

Delhi liquor policy case 

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia resigned from all 18 posts after his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case. Rouse Avenue Court sent him to judicial custody till March 20.

Sisodia was last year given the other seven portfolios handled by Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain following his arrest and since then, he was handling 18 portfolios until he was arrested.

Manish Sisodia was arrested after eight hours of questioning by the CBI on February 26. He was taken for questioning on Sunday over the alleged liquor scam, which took place under the Delhi Excise Policy. A bureaucrat earlier in his statement to CBI revealed that Sisodia played a crucial role in forming the Excise Policy, which was implemented in November 2021 and later scrapped. 

The new charges on Sisodia are IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 477A (falsification and intention of destroying evidence), something which CBI had already revealed saying that several mobile phones were destroyed. He has also been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.