On September 17, Arvind Kejriwal submitted his resignation as Delhi Chief Minister to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. Atishi will be the new Chief Minister of Delhi. His name was approved at the Aam Aadmi Party legislature meeting. Atishi claimed to form the next government in the national capital. He handed over the MLAs’ letter of support to the Lieutenant Governor and sought time for the swearing-in of the new government. The LG has submitted Atish’s proposal to the President and after getting the President’s approval, the swearing-in ceremony of the new government will be organized. This may take one to two days.
Will there be changes in the cabinet after Atishi becomes the chief minister?
Along with becoming the Chief Minister, Aatish will also have to form a new cabinet. The question now is whether she will repeat Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet or give a chance to new faces? Now, there are five months left for the Delhi Assembly elections. The Election Commission can announce the election schedule at any time and the Model Code of Conduct comes into force with it. Considering these facts, the new cabinet has only three months left to complete the work of its departments. Due to this, there are high chances that Aatish will repeat the old cabinet.
Because if the entire cabinet is changed, the new ministers will not have time to work. It will take one and a half months to understand and know their department. Then when will they work? No government wants to create such a situation for itself before the elections. Since the old ministers understand the working of their departments, there are greater chances of retaining them. It is absolutely possible that some new faces will get a place in the cabinet. According to the constitution, Delhi can have a maximum of 6 ministers besides the Chief Minister.
Will Kuldeep Kumar or Rakhi Birlan join the Cabinet?
Currently, there are 5 ministers in the cabinet and 1 seat is vacant. Rajkumar Anand resigned as a leading AAP member and minister in April this year. He was appointed as a minister in place of Rajendra Pal Gautam. Gautam resigned as a minister in October 2022 due to his controversial remarks about Hindu gods. Both Rajkumar Anand and Rajendra Pal Gautam are Dalit faces. In this case, AAP will try to give space to Dalit faces in the cabinet. In this race, Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar and Mangolpuri MLA Rakhi Birlan are leading. Atishi can include any of these two in her cabinet.
Durgesh Pathak or Dilip Pandey may get ministerial post
Apart from this, a ministerial post will also fall vacant if Aatish becomes the chief minister. Either Rajendra Nagar MLA Durgesh Pathak or Timarpur MLA Dilip Pandey can get a seat in the cabinet. Durgesh Pathak is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Political Affairs Committee (highest decision-making body) and heads the state executive council. Dilip Pandey is the chief whip of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Assembly. Durgesh is originally from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, while Dilip is from Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi has a large number of voters from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Khalkar and Purvanchal. To help them, AAP can bet on these two leaders.
Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet is as follows
1. Gopal Rai- Minister for Development, General Administration, Environment, Forests and Wildlife.
2. Imran Hussain – Food supply, elections
3. Kailash Gehlot – Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs, Transport, Administrative Reforms, Information Technology, Taxation, Finance, Planning, Home Affairs and all other departments not specifically assigned to any minister.
4. Saurabh Bhardwaj – Vigilance, Services, Health, Industry, Urban Development, Irrigation and Flood Control, Water
5. Atishi – Women and Child Development, Education, Tourism, Arts, Culture and Languages, Public Works Department, Power
Follow us On Social Media Google News and Twitter/X