The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has picked MLAs Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi as the two new faces in the Delhi cabinet. According to sources, their names will be sent to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, as per rules, who will then forward them to the President for her assent. This comes a day after Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain resigned from their ministerial positions. While Sisodia is in CBI custody in the Delhi excise policy case, Jain is in Tihar Jail on allegations of money laundering in a case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
Bhardwaj represents south Delhi's Greater Kailash constituency and is also the chief spokesperson of the AAP. He is also vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, the agency responsible for supplying water to the national capital. He was a cabinet minister in the AAP government during the 49-day tenure in 2013-14 after which Kejriwal stepped down, taking responsibility for the failure to bring the anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Bill. Atishi is an MLA from Kalkaji and a member of the AAP's political affairs committee. She has served as an advisor to Sisodia, primarily on education, between 2015 and 2017. For the unversed, Delhi ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain resigned from the Arvind Kejriwal-led cabinet amidst BJP's persistent onslaught against the AAP over the corruption charges against its leaders. The resignations came minutes after the Supreme Court refused to entertain the bail plea of Sisodia, who is in CBI custody in the now-scrapped excise policy case, saying it would set a "wrong precedent" and efficacious alternative remedies were available to him.