AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj to be elevated to Delhi cabinet

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent the names of Aam Aadmi Party MLAs Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to be elevated as ministers, news agency PTI reported on Wednesday.

The development comes after Manish Sisodia, who headed 18 departments, and Satyendra Jain, who has been in jail for months in a money laundering case, stepped down as ministers on Tuesday. Reportedly, the departments held by Sisodia will be redistributed to senior AAP leaders Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand.

"Sisodia held 18 departments, some of which will now be handled by Kailash Gahlot and the rest by Raaj Kumar Anand," a source said on Tuesday.

Sisodia was arrested on Sunday by the CBI in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the new excise policy of the Delhi government.

The CBI had also quizzed AAP leader Jain in Tihar Jail in connection with alleged corruption in implementing the now-junked Delhi Excise policy.

Jain is currently lodged in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Who is Atishi?

According to another report by Indian Express (IE), Atishi will be given departments, such as Education, Labour, and Tourism, to handle.

Earlier, she was the advisor to the deputy chief minister in the education department until the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2018 said that appointments of 10 advisors were not made after following proper procedure. In 2020, she was elected to the assembly from Kalkaji.

She has completed her graduation from St Stephen's College, New Delhi. Later, she went to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar and completed her Master's there.

She has actively participated in protests and key decision-making committees of the AAP.

Who is Saurabh Bhardwaj?

Bhardwaj will likely be assigned to the Public Works Department (PWD), power and home departments.

He has been a participant in AAP for a while now. In 2013, he was given the charge of transport in the 49-day AAP government. Currently, he represents the Greater Kailash constituency and is the national spokesperson for the AAP. He is also the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) vice-chairperson.

He was born and raised in New Delhi and is a computer engineer and a law graduate from Osmania University.