With two of its most important leaders – Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain – behind bars on corruption charges, the Aam Aadmi Party is making an effort to reorient the focus on governance issues, and this is evident in Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moving swiftly to induct new faces into his cabinet. The portfolios too are expected to be redistributed.
AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj and Kalkaji MLA Atishi are set to be the new faces in the Kejriwal government. The two leaders were for some time seen as being on the waiting list for being inducted into the Delhi cabinet. Their names had done the rounds when the AAP won the election a second time in 2020. Bhardwaj, in his capacity as vice chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board, was already seen as being almost there. Atishi, one of the most prominent AAP leaders, and recognised as one of the key people responsible for the transformation of Delhi government schools. With Atishi's induction, Kejriwal would also be hoping to deal with the criticism that his cabinet was bereft of any women members.
The arrest of Sisodia has especially come as a setback to the Kejriwal government since he was in charge of 18 out of 33 portfolios, which included the eight that had belonged to Jain before he was arrested. Sisodia had shouldered most of the responsibilities of the government, leaving Kejriwal free to focus on political work, which included working on plans to expand AAP beyond Delhi. There is speculation on whether Kejriwal will continue to be without a portfolio under changed circumstances or now take up a few of the portfolios.
The portfolios held by Sisodia, meanwhile, have been allocated to ministers Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand. Gahlot and Anand now have 18 portfolios each. Gahlot has been given the charge of finance, planning, public works, power, home, urban development, irrigation and flood control, and water in addition to the departments that were already with him. Anand has been handed over the portfolios of education, land and building, vigilance, services, tourism, art, culture and language, labour, employment, health and industries.
A major part of the AAP's strategy to deal with the setback dealt with by Sisodia's arrest is to convey the message that the Delhi government is in control of its administrative responsibilities and that the governance tasks and policy-making will carry on normally.
The other aspect of the AAP's strategy to deal with the setback is to talk about the BJP government at the Centre allegedly targeting AAP leaders because it sees Kejriwal and the party as a threat in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The developments happened just before the AAP was to intensify its campaign to go national. As part of this plan, Kejriwal was scheduled to visit Karnataka on March 4, Chhattisgarh on March 5, Rajasthan on March 13 and Madhya Pradesh on March 14. According to party sources, the plans are on track despite the recent adverse events.
