Delhi oath-taking ceremony: Meet the 6 ministers who are part of the BJP cabinet

New Delhi is the same seat from where Kejriwal defeated former chief minister Sheila Dikshit in 2013, ending her 15-year rule. Singh’s winning margin against Kejriwal was 4,089 votes. AAP had levied allegations of voter list tampering and distribution of freebies by Singh during the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct.

The 47-year-old promised a Yamuna a riverfront similar to the one at Sabarmati, giving houses to slum dwellers, 50,000 government jobs, flyovers, and a pollution-free national capital during his campaign.

The two-time West Delhi MP and one-time Mehrauli MLA, has been with the BJP for close to three decades.

As per his affidavit, Singh has assets worth Rs 96.5 crore.

2. Ashish Sood, Janakpuri MLA

A long-standing organisational man, Ashish Sood has served as a councillor as well as Leader of the House in the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). He was also the BJP in-charge for Goa and co-in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir.

Considered close to BJP national president J P Nadda and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Sood lost the Janakpuri seat in 2020 but won this time by a margin of 19,000 votes.

He was the general secretary of the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, before being elevated to its national vice president. In 2008, he was appointed secretary of the BJP’s Delhi unit and later general secretary before being elected as a councillor in the then-SDMC.

Sood, sources said, enjoys the backing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). His political journey began with the ABVP before he joined the party ranks.

3. Kapil Mishra, Karawal Nagar MLA

The only member in the BJP cabinet who has experience being in the government, Kapil Mishra, 44, was part of the AAP cabinet between 2015 and 2017 before he levelled allegations of corruption against Kejriwal and then PWD and health minister Satyendar Jain and was expelled from the party.

In 2019, he joined the BJP and went on to unsuccessfully contest the 2020 Assembly polls from Model Town.

The popular leader is the son of Annapurna Mishra, a former BJP mayor from East Delhi. He has been involved in movements against farmer suicides, Yamuna encroachment and the Commonwealth Games scam, authoring a book titled It’s Common VS Wealth.

According to party insiders, the BJP has been slowly integrating Mishra into the party, owing to his “outsider” image among the state unit’s faithful. But in August 2023, the process was ‘stepped up’ after he was appointed as Delhi BJP vice-president. According to party insiders, he had impressed the party leadership with his ability to pull crowds in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls.

4. Manjinder Sirsa, Rajouri Garden MLA

This is Manjinder Sirsa’s third stint as MLA from Rajouri Garden. In December 2021, the 52-year-old left the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to join the BJP. Around the same time, Sirsa had also quit as president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee which he served in various posts since 2013. Soon after he joined the BJP, Sirsa was made the national secretary. His political career began in 2007 when he fought the municipal elections and won.

During the Covid pandemic, he provided free langar sewa for migrant workers, started a free ambulance service to transport patients, and started an ‘oxygen langar’. He also helped set up a 400-bed Covid Care Centre at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib.

5. Ravinder Indraj Singh, Bawana MLA

The only Dalit minister-designate, Ravinder Indraj Singh won by a margin of more than 31,400 votes. He is considered close to the RSS which is learnt to have thrown its weight behind his inclusion in the Delhi Cabinet over the last week.

One of only four incoming legislators from the city’s 12 reserved constituencies, 50-year-old Singh is a businessman and a member of the national executive of the BJP’s SC Morcha. He had contested the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections from the same seat but was unsuccessful.

Party sources said his inclusion in the seven-member council of ministers was an “expression of gratitude” from the BJP’s national leadership to the city’s SC community as well as the rural seats, voters from both categories threw their weight behind the party to help it cross the finish line to end its near 27-year power drought in the capital.

6. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Vikaspuri MLA

Pankaj Kumar Singh, a 48-year-old dentist with familial ties to Bihar, is a two-time councillor and both a Purvanchali as well as a Thakur face in the council of ministers.

The son of a senior former official in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Raj Mohan Singh, who served as an additional commissioner in the civic body, this is the first time that Singh has been elected as a legislator.

In addition to having served two terms as a councillor in the past, Singh is considered close to the RSS and handled organisational responsibilities in the BJP’s state unit, including as general secretary of the Delhi BJP’s Purvanchal Morcha.

Morcha.