A day after the Aam Aadmi Party won Delhi Assembly election in a landslide victory, reports have said that Arvind Kejriwal will retain his Cabinet from 2015 and has decided against inducting new ministers.
NDTV has quoted a source as saying that he "feels that retaining ministers whose work won the party a second term is the right thing to do". The Cabinet is likely to include Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Rajendra Pal Gautam.
Here are the profiles of the members of Kejriwal's 2020 team:
Manish Sisodia
Sisodia is generally perceived to be Kejriwal's deputy in AAP. On Tuesday, after it became clear that the AAP was winning the Delhi Assembly election, the party tweeted —
For many more years to come...@ArvindKejriwal & @msisodia pic.twitter.com/sjC3VXJEz1
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 11, 2020
As an article in The Print noted, Sisodia has built a distinct profile for himself as a governance man, even as Kejriwal was projected as the face of the AAP. This is unlike deputy chief ministers in many other states, who are not as recognisable. Sisodia handles the portfolios of finance, education, planning, urban development, revenue, services, local bodies, land and buildings, higher education, training and technical education, vigilance, cooperative societies, information technology, and information and publicity.
Sisodia is a former journalist, and has earlier worked with Zee News and All India Radio between 1996 and 2005 before entering activism. He has been associated with the movement to introduce a Right to Information Act, and later with the movement for a Jan Lokpal Bill led by Anna Hazare.
File photo of AAP leader Manish Sisodia. PTI
Sisodia is primarily recognised for his work on education. A major plank for the AAP in the recently-concluded elections was the improved condition of government schools.
Satyendar Jain
If Manish Sisodia is known largely for his work on government schools, Satyendar Jain is associated with another of the AAP's most recognisable initiatives — mohalla clinics. Jain is the minister in-charge for Departments of Health, Power, Irrigation and Flood Control along with Urban Development, Home and Industries. Mohalla clinics have garnered international appreciation from the likes of former UN Secretary Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon for its accessibility and effectiveness.
The Mohalla Clinics, which function as primary healthcare centres, charge no fees and have been set up at 158 locations across the city.
However, Jain has also been accused of favouritism while appointing his daughter Soumya Jain as an advisor for the Mohalla Clinic programme.
Jain was earlier an architect and had worked with Central public works department (PWD). He has been involved with many social work platforms, and is associated with social organisation Sparsh, which works for mentally challenged children.
Gopal Rai
In the AAP's previous term, Gopal Rai held the portfolios of employment, development, labour, general administration department, irrigation and flood control.
One of the founding members of the party, Rai contested the 2013 Assembly election from Babarpur but lost to BJP veteran Naresh Gaur. He, however, made a comeback in the 2015 election by winning the seat comfortably.
Earlier, Rai had also held the transport portfolio. However, in June 2016, he had resigned from the post due to allegations of corruption against him in the premium bus SVC scheme. He had cited ill health as the reason of his resignation.
As the labour minister, Rai is credited with increasing the minimum wages in Delhi. The minimum wages for unskilled persons are now Rs 14,052, with those for semi-skilled and skilled persons at Rs 15,471 and Rs 17,033 respectively.
Kailash Gahlot
Kailash Gahlot held the portfolios of Revenue, Administrative Reforms, Information & Technology, Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs and Transport in the previous government. He is an accomplished advocate in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court, and has over 16 years of experience.
As the transport minister, Gahlot was at the helm of the contentious odd-even scheme in Delhi. Gahlot has been accused by the Income Tax department of evading taxes to the tune of Rs 120 crore, a claim that he has denied. In October 2018, the I-T department had conducted searches on multiple premises linked to him in connection with an alleged tax evasion case.
Imran Hussain
Imran Hussain had held the portfolios of of Food and Civil Supplies and Election. In 2012, he was elected from Ballimaran as a councillor from the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
In July 2019, former Union minister Vijay Goel Wednesday accused Hussain of being involved in the vandalism of a temple in the Hauz Qazi area, a charge refuted by the AAP leader.
Hussain is an alumnus of the Jamia Milia Islamia.
Rajendra Pal Gautam
Rajendra Pal Gautam had held the portfolios of Social Welfare, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Gurudwara Elections, Water and Registrar of Cooperative Societies. He is a lawyer and had joined the AAP in 2014. Among the cabinet minsters, Gautam won the recently-concluded elections with the highest margin. According to the Election Commission, Gautam won the Seemapuri seat by 56,108 votes.
February 12, 2020 at 08:36PM
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