Kejriwal’s Cabinet
All ministers likely to continue with their old portfolios
colleague Gopal Rai took oath in the name of martyrs of the freedom struggle, while Rajendra Pal Gautam took oath in the name of Lord Buddha.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has retained all the six ministers — Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Imran Hussain, Gopal Rai, Rajendra Gautam, and Kailash Gehlot — who served his government in the previous term.
In a departure from the tradition of taking oath in the name of God, Mr Rai did it in the name of martyrs of the freedom struggle. He was the labour minister in the previous AAP government. He had also held the charge of general administration department and irrigation and flood control. He is also the party’s convener of the Delhi unit.
Mr Gautam, who was the social welfare minister in the previous dispensation, took oath in the name of Lord Buddha. An accomplished lawyer, Mr Gautam, who joined AAP in 2014, is also a member of the party’s national executive. He was also in charge of the SC and ST department, gurudwara elections, water, and registrar of cooperative societies.
Mr Hussain took oath of office in the name of Allah and later he took oath of secrecy in the name of God (Ishwar). He is credited for enforcing the environmental norms in the national capital during his first term in Mr Kejriwal’s Cabinet. He held the triple charge for the departments of environment and forest, food and supply, and election.
Mr Kejriwal, Mr Sisodia, Mr Jain, and Mr Gahlot took oath in the name of God. Mr Sisodia, who also held the position of the deputy chief minister, is considered Mr Kejriwal’s right-hand man and the force behind the reforms in the public education sector. Apart from education, Mr
Sisodia also held the crucial portfolios for finance, planning, tourism, land and building, vigilance, services, and women and child development along with art, culture, and languages.
Mr Jain, an architect, who was credited for piloting mohalla clinic programme in its first term, is likely to retain the portfolios of health, industries, power, PWD, home, and urban
development.
Mr Gahlot is described as a philanthropist, educationist, and an entrepreneur for social change by AAP. He held the crucial transport department in the previous government.