Manish Sisodia likely to be deputy CM in Delhi
New Delhi:Two days before he takes oath as Delhi’s chief minister, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised the issue of granting full statehood to the capital.
Kejriwal, who is reaching out to the Modi-led central government after weeks of bitter election campaign, also invited the prime minister to his oath taking but the latter politely declined the request.
Kejriwal and his close associate Manish Sisodia, who is likely to be the deputy chief minister, were with Modi for over 20 minutes. Modi, who during the campaign had called Kejriwal a “Naxalite” who should be banished to the forest, received the AAP leader warmly, Sisodia later told the media.
“We discussed issues concerning Delhi over ‘chai pe charcha’. One of the issues was granting Delhi full statehood,” Sisodia said.He said Modi promised to ponder over the issue and assured the AAP leaders the central govern-ment’s full coope-ration to the Delhi government.
After Kejriwal led his party to a landslide win in the Delhi election Tuesday that left the BJP with just three of the 70 seats, Modi congratulated the AAP leader and invited him for a meeting over tea.
That day too he told Kejriwal that the central government would extend full cooperation to the Delhi government. Sisodia did not not say much on the cabinet formation in Delhi.
“Nothing can said now. The final list (of ministers) would be sent to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung soon,” he said.Keriwal and Sisodia have been meeting cabinet ministers whose ministries have a say in the affairs of Delhi.
On Wednesday, they met Urban Development Minis-ter M. Venkaiah Naidu and Home Minister Rajnath Singh and called on Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee.
Naidu’s ministry controls the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and large areas of land in the capital. The home ministry controls Delhi Police. On Thursday’s Modi-Kejriwal meeting — their first — is expected to break the ice in their relations. The AAP leader took on Modi at Varanasi during the Lok Sabha election and lost badly.
On Tuesday, the AAP turned the tables on the BJP, delivering to Modi’s party its first defeat since its Lok Sabha triumph. Like in December 2013, Kejriwal will take oath as chief minister at the sprawling Ramlila Maidan in the heart of Delhi.
An estimated 100,000 people attended that event in 2013, when the AAP created a sensation by winning 28 seats in its maiden election. It formed a government with Congress help that lasted just 49 days.
Now that the AAP has won a staggering 67 of the 70 seats, both the party and police are expecting a much larger crowd.
Delhi Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal is likely to appoint his trusted colleague Manish Sisodia as the deputy CM, sources said onThursday, adding Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla have been kept out of the cabinet this time.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Political Affairs Committee (PAC) Wednesday night at Kejriwal’s residence in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad, party sources said.
Among those likely to be included in the cabinet are: Satyendra Jain, Adarsh Shastri, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Jitender Tomar, Kapil Mishra, Sandeep Kumar and Asim Ahmed Khan.
According to party sources, two controversial former ministers – Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla – are not part of the cabinet.
Ram Nivas Goyal is likely to be appointed speaker of the Delhi assembly while Bandana Kumari could be his deputy. Sisodia was the minister of education, PWD, urban development and local bodies in the 49-day AAP government that had resigned Feb 14 last year.
During AAP’s tenure, Bharti had conducted a midnight raid in south Delhi’s Khirki extension targeting some African nationals, alleging a sex racket operating out of a rented flat.
Delhi Police refused to cooperate with Bharti and his action faced widespread criticism from women rights groups. Birla, then minister for women and child welfare, had filed a case against a young boy for allegedly stoning her car. The police, however, said it was a cricket ball. Kejriwal then asked her to withdraw the case.
The party made a stunning comeback Tuesday, winning 67 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly, elections for which were held Feb 7. Kejriwal will take oath as the chief minister Satur-day.(IANS)