© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The embattled Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) move to get Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain to step down from the Delhi Cabinet may have come as a surprise, but senior party leaders say that the decision was taken to ensure that governance — especially at a time when the annual Budget is to be presented in a few weeks — is not affected. AAP insiders said the announcement of the two new names would also help take the sting off the BJP’s barbs about two Cabinet ministers being in jail or custody.
MLAs Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi are likely to replace the senior ministers but the choice of the two names did not come without some flip-flops on part of the AAP. After Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia, who is in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Health Minister Jain, who has been in prison for nine months on money laundering charges being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), resigned on Tuesday, party officials said their departments would be reallocated to existing ministers and no new appointments would be made.
Hours later, Bharadwaj, who is also the AAP’s national spokesperson, announced that two new people would be appointed to the Cabinet. Late Tuesday night, the 18 departments that Sisodia headed were divided among Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand.
According to sources, this is because the party anticipates that it may be some time before Bharadwaj and Atishi are sworn in. “The process for appointing new ministers is not instantaneous. First, the resignations have to be sent to the L-G (Lieutenant Governor) who will then send them to the President of India. After her nod, the resignations will be considered accepted. So far, we have sent them to the L-G and he has sent a recommendation to the President that they be accepted. It is after the acceptance that the two new names for appointment will be sent to him. The final nod will come from the President. It is clear that BJP intends to hurt Delhi’s governance as much as it can and keeping that in mind, the departments were redistributed among existing ministers so that any urgent matters are dealt with without delay,” said a senior party leader.
AAP insiders said the party was not leaving Sisodia and Jain to fend for themselves. “The party stands staunchly behind the two leaders. There is no doubt about that. But we also do not want to dance to BJP’s tunes. Their entire strategy is to divert attention from illegalities committed by them and to stop AAP’s work. This counters both narratives that BJP is pushing hard,” said an AAP functionary.
Meanwhile, the AAP will likely stick with Kailash Gahlot as its finance and planning minister. Gahlot who is from Najafgarh practised law for 16 years before contesting the Assembly elections in 2015. He has been a minister in the AAP government for almost eight years.
“He has been part of the government for a considerable amount of time and also handles the crucial revenue portfolio. It makes sense for him to continue as the finance and planning minister as he is the most clued in,” said the party leader said. According to sources, Gahlot was also present in the Budget-related meetings that Sisodia held last week.
Anand, the minister for social welfare, is also an experienced AAP hand, having joined the party after its formation in 2011-’12. In the 2013 election, his wife Veena was elected from the Patel Nagar seat. In 2020, he was elected from Patel Nagar. He has a postgraduate degree in Political Science. Before joining the party, Anand used to run Anand Path, a foundation for the betterment of the lives of underprivileged children. The foundation also started an “Ambedkar Pathshala”.
