Cabinet reshuffle: Bhardwaj stripped of Services, Vigilance
New Delhi, August 8
In a major Cabinet reshuffle by the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi Government, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, in charge of Services and Vigilance Department, was on Tuesday stripped off these two portfolios.
Delhi PWD Minister Atishi will be given these portfolios. A file to this effect has been already sent for Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s nod. The decision comes a day after the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was cleared by the Rajya Sabha—which Kejriwal has decried as a bid by the BJP-led Centre to enter the Capital’s governance through the backdoor.
Government sources said the Chief Minister had sent a file proposing a Cabinet reshuffle as part of which Bharadwaj, who holds the significant health portfolio, has been relieved of the charge of the Services Department.
AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj will continue to hold the portfolios of Health, Industries, Urban Development, Irrigation and Flood Control and Water.
Atishi, the sole woman in the seven-member Delhi Cabinet, has the largest number of portfolios under her belt. With these two new portfolios, Atishi would now have 14 departments. The last reshuffle has placed her a notch below Kejriwal in the Cabinet. Other significant departments that Atishi holds include Public Works Department (PWD), Education and Power.
Notably, Atishi was given additional charge of the revenue, planning and finance departments in June. The three departments were earlier with Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.
