New Delhi Chief Minister Atishi will retain all the 13 portfolios, including education, revenue, finance, power and PWD, that she held in the previous government in the national capital headed by Arvind Kejriwal.
A proposal from the chief minister for allocation of work among the ministers of her cabinet has been approved by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, officials said on Saturday.
Atishi’s predecessor Kejriwal did not hold any portfolio.
Atishi, the eighth chief minister of Delhi, has retained four ministers from the previous government — Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot and Imran Hussain. First-time MLA from Sultanpur Majra Mukesh Ahlawat is a new member in her cabinet.
Bharadwaj will retain his previous portfolios and also have the charge of the social welfare and cooperative departments that were earlier held by Raaj Kumar Anand, who resigned in April. His other portfolios include health, urban development, irrigation and tourism.
Bharadwaj will have eight portfolios under his belt, the highest after those held by the chief minister.
Ahlawat has been given the charge of the labour, gurdwara elections, welfare of SCs and STs and land and building departments.
Rai has retained the development, general administration department, environment and forest portfolios that he also held in the Kejriwal government.
Gahlot has also been given his previous portfolios — transport, home, administrative reforms, women and child development.
Ministers of Atishi govt commit to bring back Kejriwal as Delhi CM, speed up work
The ministers in the AAP government led by Chief Minister Atishi, after being sworn-in on Saturday, asserted that the mission before them was to ensure that Arvind Kejriwal was brought back to the top post after the assembly polls early next year.
The new Cabinet, including ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat, was sworn-in by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena in a ceremony at the Raj Niwas here.
The chief minister in a press conference after taking oath herself asserted that the only aim of the ruling party in the upcoming assembly elections will be to bring back Kejriwal to the top post.
We have only one sankalp’ (resolution) which is bringing back Arvind Kejriwal through the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal says that we need to serve the people of Delhi as their brother and son. We need to go amongst people and take our (development) work from door-to-door, Gahlot said after taking oath.
Environment Minister Rai said the “mission” now was to bring back Kejriwal as the chief minister with the support of the people of Delhi.
The objective in front of all of us now is to take forward the work that was started in Delhi under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal to new heights by the time of next elections. Along with this, we will work as a team to control pollution that increases during the winters. We will also work on other pending work, he added.
Food and Supplies Minister Hussain said that AAP leaders, workers and people of Delhi were “hurt” by Kejriwal’s resignation.
He was framed on false charges and then he resigned himself. Delhi’s public is unhappy about it. They have decided to re-elect Arvind Kejriwal as the CM after four months, he added.
Ahlawat said that he was “shocked” to get the call for being made a minister and added that he will try to properly discharge the responsibility entrusted to him.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Sep 21 2024 | 8:51 PM IST
