NEW DELHI: AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj will be inducted as new ministers following Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain's resignation from the Delhi cabinet. The city government made an announcement to this effect a day after Bhardwaj, in a press conference, had confirmed the induction of two new faces in the cabinet.
Atishi, MLA from Kaklaji assembly constituency, will be the second women MLA to be inducted into the Arvind Kejriwal-led government as minister after Rakhi Bidlan who was a minister during a 49-day stint of the government in 2014. Bidlan was dropped and later appointed Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Assembly. It is almost after eight years since there will be a woman minister in the Delhi government.
The opposition, mainly BJP has been attacking AAP for not inducting a woman minister. Women ministers in previous governments have been very popular.
Dr Kiran Walia was a minister in Sheila Dikshit government. Dikshit has successfully governed Delhi as CM for three consecutive terms. Former union minister Sushma Swaraj was the first woman CM of Delhi.
Krishna Tirath was given the charge of Social Welfare and other Departments during the first term of the Dikshit government. Walia was a minister in Dikshit cabinet during the second stint.
Meanwhile, no woman was a minister in Delhi when BJP's Madan Lal Khurana was at the helm.
ALSO READ | Delhi excise policy case: Timeline of events
Atishi was involved in policy formulation for the AAP since the formation of the party and after the 2020 elections, she was made the AAP's in-charge for its Goa unit. She was appointed the Lok Sabha in-charge for East Delhi for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and contested from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency as an AAP party candidate.
She lost to BJP's candidate Gautam Gambhir. She competed in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election from Kalkaji constituency of South Delhi. She defeated Dharambir Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, by 11,422 votes.
Atishi was also spearheading the flagship Mohalla Sabha Project for the Delhi government.
Saurabh Bhardwaj is a three-time MLA from Greater Kailash assembly constituency. He is Vice Chairman of Delhi Jal Board and Chief Spokesperson for Delhi unit of AAP. Bhardwaj was a Cabinet Minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government during the 49-day tenure between 28 December 2013 and 14 February 2014.
Bhardwaj shot to fame on 9 May, when he claimed to hack a look-alike machine like EVM (Electronic voting machine) allegedly used by the Election Commission. The AAP used the hacking by Bhardwaj to substantiate its claims of EVM tampering during recent elections.