Arrested Delhi deputy minister Manish Sisodia and former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain resigned from the Delhi cabinet on Tuesday, February 28th. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted the resignation of the ministers, the national spokesperson of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Saurabh Bharadwaj said officially.
The resignation came from the duo hours after the Supreme Court had refused to intervene in a petition filed by Sisodia challenging his arrest by the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI), in the Delhi excise policy case, and asked him instead to approach the Delhi High Court first. Sisodia had 18 portfolios including education during the time of his arrest. Sisodia is currently in five-day CBI custody.
Former health minister Jain was apprehended by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case back in May 2022 and had seven portfolios including health. Jain remained a minister without portfolios even after his arrest and some of his ministerial charges were distributed to other ministers including Sisodia.Â
After the duo’s resignation, the AAP said that two new ministers would replace the resigned ministers in due course. As per the rules, the proposal of diving the 18 portfolios held by Sisodia, to other ministers, has been sent to the lieutenant governor of Delhi.
Pursuant to the political experts, the names of the MLAs Saurabh Bharadwaj (Greater Kailash), Atishi Marlena (Kalkaji), Dilip Pandey (Timarpur) and Durgesh Pathak (Rajinder Nagar) may be considered for the vacant ministerial posts.
According to the rules, there can be only seven ministers including the chief minister in the Delhi cabinet.
