AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj likely to be in Kejriwal Cabinet

The development comes after the resignation of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, the key faces of the city government

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday chose AAP MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj as replacements for Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, who resigned from the government following their arrests in corruption cases.

Kejriwal is learnt to have forwarded the names of the duo to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena for his clearance but a gazette notification issued in the afternoon on portfolio reallocation showed Sisodia and Jain continuing as ministers without portfolios. This would mean that the resignations were not yet accepted.

The portfolios of Sisodia were handed over to Kailash Gahlot and Ram Kumar Anand. Jain's departments were earlier given to Sisodia when the former was arrested, making him the busiest minister in the government handling 18 out of 33 ministries.

“Modi wants to stop the good work done by AAP. Atishi and Saurabh will continue the good work of Sisodia and Jain at double speed,” Kejriwal told reporters after a meeting of AAP MLAs and councillors. However, he did not give a timeline for the induction of the two new ministers.

“Sisodia and Jain will be freed if they join the BJP. They were arrested because they were doing good work. If they weren’t, they would not have been arrested…I want to tell the BJP that AAP is a hurricane. No one can stop an idea whose time has come. None can stop AAP,” he said.

Asked whether there would be a Deputy Chief Minister, he said if there is a need, he could appoint one.

Kejriwal also announced a door-to-door campaign across the capital to explain to people the "targeting" of AAP leaders by the BJP.

AAP chief spokesperson Bharadwaj, a computer engineer, was minister in Kejriwal's 49-day government and is now returning to the governance set up, while Atishi will be entering the government for the first time.

Bharadwaj represents Greater Kailash, while Atishi represents Kalkaji and both are considered close to Kejriwal. Atishi was a key member of Sisodia's team, which implemented education reforms in the capital.

Sources said once the resignations of Sisodia and Jain are accepted by the LG, the new ministers will be appointed and sworn in. Till then, Gahlot will handle portfolios like Finance and PWD, while Anand will take care of Education and Health, besides their existing portfolios.

Earlier, there were reports that Dilip Pandey and Durgesh Pathak, who were in Kejriwal's core team, were also considered for the post.

If Atishi enters the cabinet, she will be the lone woman minister in the Cabinet. Though Rakhi Birla was minister in Kejriwal's 49-day government in 2013, he had not chosen a woman in his ministry in 2015 or 2020.