Atishi retains 4 ministers, admits a new face

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Mukesh Ahlawat will be the new face in the Delhi cabinet headed by Atishi, who will be sworn in as chief minister on September 21, and four ministers will be retained, the party said on Thursday.

It said Chief Minister-designate Atishi and her new Cabinet will take the oath of office on the same day.

Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot and Imran Hussain, who are part of outgoing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Council of Ministers, will be in the new cabinet as well, the AAP said in New Delhi.

Atishi and Bharadwaj were inducted into the Kejriwal Cabinet after the AAP national convenor's trusted lieutenants Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain resigned in February last year.

Kejriwal resigned as Delhi chief minister earlier this week, after which Atishi, chosen by AAP as his successor, staked claim to form a new government.

Atishi holds 13 major portfolios in the Cabinet headed by Kejriwal, finance, revenue, PWD and education. Her experience in handling so many portfolios was among the reasons she was picked to succeed Kejriwal.

Rai is in charge of environment, development and general administration, while Bharadwaj helms the health, tourism and urban development departments among others.

Gahlot holds the portfolios of transport, home and women and child development, while Hussain is the minister for food and supplies.

Ahlawat, MLA from Delhi's Sultanpur Majra, has been inducted to fill the vacancy created following the resignation of social welfare minister Raaj Kumar Anand.

Anand resigned from the Kejriwal government and quit AAP in April.

Kejriwal did not hold any portfolio.

Ahlawat is a first-time MLA from Sultanpur Majra. He won the seat in 2020 by a margin of over 48,000 votes.

The new Cabinet will have to fast-track and give a nod to pending policies and welfare schemes like the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, Electric Vehicle Policy 2.0 and doorstep delivery of services, among others.

The Kejriwal government had several run-ins with the Delhi lieutenant governor over issues of governance and implementation of various schemes.

The Council of Ministers of the Delhi government has seven members, including the chief minister. The tenure of the chief minister and the new entrant will be brief as Delhi assembly polls are due in February next year.

The name of the seventh member is yet to be announced.

The oath ceremony of the new chief minister is likely to be held at the Raj Niwas. It is expected to be a "low-key affair" given the circumstances of Kejriwal's resignation.

Atishi herself has said Kejriwal's resignation was an extremely sad moment.