Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj likely to replace Sisodia, Jain

After top AAP ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain resigned from the city government, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has forwarded the names of AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj to the Lieutenant Governor for their appointment to the Cabinet.

Sisodia and Jain were the key faces of the Delhi government who were instrumental in steering the national capital through the coronavirus crisis.

Bhardwaj, who is also the party’s national spokesperson, is currently serving the Delhi Jal Board as its vice chairman. The legislator from Greater Kailash was also a minister during the first stint of the AAP government.

Atishi, who represents the Kalkaji constituency, has been a key member of Sisodia’s education team. She had also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi constituency and lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir.

Till Atishi and Bhardwaj are inducted into the cabinet, ministers Raaj Kumar Anand and Kailash Gahlot will take care of the portfolios that have fallen vacant following Sisodia’s resignation. While Gahlot has been given the additional charge of finance, PWD along with some departments, Anand, who is also the social welfare minister, will take care of education, health and other departments.

AAP’s second-in-command, Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday in connection with alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.

Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in May last year in a money laundering case.

(With PTI inputs)