NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, FEB 16
The 51-year old bureaucrat-turned politician Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row on Sunday along with six of his colleagues.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal in front of a massive cheering crowd at the Ramlila Maidan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal peppered his speech with a poem, song and slogans after taking the reigns of the Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal began his address with slogans of Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ and spoke about his party’s victory, the AAP won 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly, and he plans to do in the office in the next five years.
मैं अरविंद केजरीवाल ईश्वर की शपथ लेता हूँ … #MufflermanReturns
https://t.co/QhTw9isbRS— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 16, 2020
As the crowd at Ramlila Maidan with tricolours and AAP flags clapped, the AAP chief also recited a Hindi poem that spoke about what his government has claimed to have brought. It also spoke about his government’s priorities and tasks.
Kejriwal finished his speech with the Hindi song “Hum Honge Kaamyaab’’ or we shall overcome.
Thousands of people turned up at the Ramlila Maidan as more than 5000 security personnel, including the personnel of Delhi Police and paramilitary forces, kept a watch during the oath-taking ceremony.
The sprawling venue decked with tricolours, party flags, posters and placards saw AAP workers and the audience with the tricolour painted on their faces.
The national anthem and patriotic songs could also be heard at the Ramlila Maidan, which hosted people wearing the AAP’s caps cheering and shouting slogans.
The AAP stormed back to power in the bitterly fought Delhi assembly elections that took place on February 8. It won 62 of the 70 seats while BJP bagged the remaining eight seats.
6 AAP leaders who took oath alongside Arvind Kejriwal
Kejriwal retained all the six ministers who served his government in the previous term – Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Imran Hussain, Gopal Rai, Rajendra Gautam and Kailash Gehlot.
Here are the six Aam Aadmi Party leaders who took oath alongside Arvind Kejriwal:
Manish Sisodia: He held the position of Delhi’s deputy Chief Minister, is considered Kejriwal’s right-hand man and the force behind reforms in the public education sector. Apart from Education, Sisodia also held the crucial portfolios for Finance, Planning, Tourism, Land & Building, Vigilance, Services, Women & Child Development along with Art, Culture and Languages. It is speculated that the Patparganj MLA will retain his portfolios.
Satyendar Jain: An architect by profession, credited for piloting AAP’s internationally recognized Mohalla Clinics programme in its first term, is likely to retain the portfolios of Health, Industries, Power, Public Works Department, Home and Urban Development.
Gopal Rai: Another Kejriwal confidante had held the Rural Development department apart from holding the charge for General Administration Department, Irrigation & Flood Control and Labour. Rai is also the convener of the Delhi state unit of the Aam Aadmi Party.
Imran Hussain: Who is credited for enforcing the environmental norms in the capital during his first term in Kejriwal’s cabinet, held the triple charge for the departments of Environment & Forest, Food & Supply and Election.
Rajendra Gautam: An accomplished lawyer, who joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014, is also a member of AAP’s national executive. He was in charge of the Social Welfare department along with SC & ST, Gurudwara Elections, Water and Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
Kailash Gahlot: He is described as a philanthropist, educationist and an entrepreneur for social change by AAP.
No berth for women in the cabinet
None of the eight women lawmakers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made it to Delhi cabinet.
Atishi, Rakhi Birla, Raj Kumari Dhillon, Preeti Tomar, Dhanwati Chandela, Parmila Tokas, Bhavna Gaur and Bandana Kumari were the women AAP candidates emerged victorious in the 2020 Assembly election where the party’s campaign sought to address many women’s issues including free bus rides and safety.
But none of them made it to the cabinet even as the AAP swept the elections winning 62 of the 70 Assembly seats. The AAP had fielded nine women in the elections. Sarita Singh from Rohtas Nagar was the only one who lost. In 2015, all six women candidates of AAP won the elections.
The most high-profile of the current winners is Atishi, who bagged the Kalkaji seat. She has been a key advisor to Sisodia on education policies that transformed Delhi’s public school education.
Rakhi Birla who retained the Mangolpuri seat with a thumping victory was also not included in the cabinet. In AAP’s first term from 2013 to 2014, she was briefly the minister for the department of women and child, social welfare and languages.
