In new Delhi Cabinet, old faces get priority over three former ministers
Former AAP minister Kailash Gahlot, who switched to the BJP months before the Assembly polls, is now the Bijwasan MLA
4 min read
(L-R) Kailash Gahlot, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Rajkumar Chauhan joined the BJP from the AAP and Cong, respectively Exhibiting what BJP insiders said was an emphasis on organisational loyalty over any other factor, two first-time legislators who have been with the party since the beginning were chosen for as many berths in the Delhi Cabinet compared to two former Congress ministers and an AAP minister.
The Sangh’s choice is writ large on both the choices — Ravinder Indraj Singh and Pankaj Kumar Singh, who represent the reserved Bawana Assembly and Vikaspuri, respectively.
Former AAP minister Kailash Gahlot, who switched to the BJP months before the Assembly polls, is now the Bijwasan MLA. Gandhi Nagar MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely and Mangolpuri MLA Rajkumar Chauhan, who were part of successive Congress government cabinets with Sheila Dikshit at the helm, have been left out in the cold, at least for the time being.
Gahlot was the most senior minister in the AAP government who quit and joined BJP. Sources said he was being considered to head a government board or authority. Apart from cabinet positions, key posts in autonomous bodies and boards, such as the Delhi Jal Board vice-chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson, and Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, are yet to be filled.
Chauhan is a former four-time MLA who served on the Dikshit-led Delhi cabinet three times.
In 1998, Lovely became the youngest Delhi MLA and five years later, at the age of 30, became the youngest minister in the Dikshit government. Considered the then Chief Minister’s confidant, he received key portfolios such as Education, Transport and Urban Development during her three tenures. It was during his tenure that Delhi’s infamous Blueline buses were replaced with the green, red, and orange low-floor buses.
Lovely was the education minister when Delhi became the first to implement 25% reservation for children from the Economically Weaker Section in private schools. He was the Urban Development Minister when the approval to regularise unauthorised colonies was first made in 2012-13. The plan, however, took a long time to get the Centre’s approval and implemented on the ground, which happened in 2018-19 when the BJP was in power at the Centre.
Though targeted by the AAP over alleged corruption, Lovely played a part in giving “outside support” to the AAP in 2013, enabling it to form a government that lasted for 49 days. He was heading the Delhi Congress when the AAP handed the party a crushing defeat in the 2015 Assembly polls. Subsequently, Lovely resigned as DPCC president for the first time and joined the BJP. Within months, he returned to the Congress fold but left for the BJP again before the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
The other leaders from the Congress to have joined the BJP between 2022 and before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections include Tarvinder Singh Marwah, who defeated the AAP’s Manish Sisodia in Jangpura, Neeraj Basoya who got elected from Kasturba Nagar and Naseeb Singh who did not get a ticket this time.
A senior political leader, who joined the BJP recently, said, “There is no issue like that (with regard to exclusion from the seven-member cabinet)… We were neither expecting any cabinet berth nor was it communicated to us (that we would get one). We had joined the BJP because we were in agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for the country, not for personal benefit.”
BJP sources said senior leaders — both who had been with the party since the beginning as well as those who had joined it later — were likely to be accommodated in positions such as Parliamentary Secretaries, Boards and autonomous institutions under the Delhi government.
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