Delhi Chief Minister Atishi will lead 13 departments including education and finance after taking oath on Saturday afternoon. Te Cabinet currently has five members (apart from the CM) with first-time MLA Mukesh Ahlawat joining the existing Ministers. The senior AAP leader will however have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.
According to the portfolio allocation list released on Saturday evening, Saurabh Bharadwaj will take charge of eight departments including Health, Urban Development and Social Welfare. Gopal Rai will helm three departments including Environment. Kailash Gehlot is set to take charge of four departments including Transport and WCD. Imran Hussain will head the Food Supply and Election Department. Mukesh Ahlawat will become Delhi’s SC/ST Minister as well as taking charge of four more departments including Labour.
The low-key swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Niwas was attended by her predecessor and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and other party leaders and MLAs.
The newly appointed Delhi government will have its work cut out for itself — fast-tracking several pending policies and welfare schemes such as the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana and Electric Vehicle Policy 2.0.
“For the next four months, my work would be to take care of the people of Delhi. BJP has tried everything from jailing AAP leaders and stopping the work of development in Delhi. BJP and LG (VK Saxena) stopped the road works, stopped medicines from reaching the hospitals, stopped the tests in mohalla clinics. BJP and LG stopped the garbage collection in Delhi, but now I promise you that Arvind Kejriwal is out of jail, all these works will get completed,” the new CM assured.
She also urged the people of Delhi to make Kejriwal return as CM after the Assembly polls early next year. Atishi hailed Kejriwal for setting an example in morality by stepping down as chief minister despite getting bail from the Supreme Court in the excise policy case.
“It is an emotional moment for me as he will not be the chief minister. He understood the pain of every person. He ensured free treatment for people, worked to improve the lives of the students of government schools, brought the provision of free bus rides for women. The BJP implicated him in a false case and did everything to break him,” the chief minister said.
(With inputs from agencies)
