Delhi’s new Chief Minister will play a supervisory role and act as a bridge between his Cabinet and the people of the Capital instead of leading one, or more, important portfolios.
Arvind Kejriwal, who took charge as Delhi Chief Minister for the second time, will be the first Chief Minister here to not hold charge of any portfolio.
Mr. Kejriwal, who heads a young Cabinet what with the average age of the six Ministers on it around 40 years, has four new faces barring those of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Satyender Jain. Both were part of his previous 49-day Cabinet. And it is among both Mr. Sisodia and Mr. Jain that significant portfolios like Power, Finance, Home and Planning, which were held by Mr. Kejriwal in 2013, have been distributed this time around.
“His role will be to oversee the work of the Cabinet and the MLAs, acting as a connecting link between the people and their elected representatives, in addition to affect systemic changes in governance from the point of view of technology,” Mr. Sisodia told reporters at the maiden press conference held at the Delhi Secretariat .
In addition to Education, Higher Education, Urban Development, Local Bodies, Land and Building and Revenues which he held in 2013, Mr. Kejriwal added Finance & Planning, Services, Information Technology, Technical Education, Administrative Reforms, Vigilance and “all other Departments not specifically allocated to any Minister” to Mr. Sisodia’s portfolio this year.
Similarly, Mr. Jain, who held the Health, Industries and the Gurudwara Elections portfolios last year, was handed Irrigation and Flood Control, the Public Works Department and Power this time.
A new entrant to the Cabinet and Tri Nagar MLA, Jitender Singh Tomar was handed the significant portfolio of Home apart from Law & Justice, Tourism, Art and Culture.
A source said Mr. Kejriwal’s decision to not hold a portfolio was intended to keeping him free to test the political waters elsewhere in addition to solidifying the AAP from the grassroots up. “It is not like he won’t do any work. He will keep a direct tab on the entire Cabinet and all the 67 AAP MLAs who won, in addition to directly being involved in solving people’s problems related to corruption, power and water which form a major chunk of our 70-point action plan.”
