Atishi likely to get finance, revenue portfolios in Delhi cabinet reshuffle

Delhi minister Atishi is likely to get the additional charges of finance, planning and revenue when Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reshuffles the cabinet, sources have said.

While Kejriwal has already sent a proposal for the reshuffle to LG V K Saxena, a row has erupted over the reshuffle file, with government officials claiming that the matter is pending with the LG office, a charge denied by the latter.

Atishi, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj, was inducted into the cabinet in March following the resignations of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain.

She had been holding the portfolios of power, education, art, culture and language, tourism, higher education, training and technical education and public relations.

The latest addition will raise the number of portfolios held by her to 12.

Her cabinet colleague, Kailash Gahlot, currently holds charge of the revenue, planning and finance departments. He was given the portfolios of planning and finance following Sisodia’s resignation, who was arrested in connection with the excise policy case and is currently lodged in Tihar.

“In the cabinet reshuffle, Atishi may get the three responsibilities of finance, planning and revenue. She was recently also given the charge of public relations department on June 1, which was earlier with Gahlot,” a government official said.

AAP accuses governor of sitting on reshuffle file

Meanwhile, the AAP dispensation accused the LG of not approving the file and sitting on it.
An official told the media that the file related to the cabinet reshuffle in the AAP dispensation has been lying with Delhi LG Saxena for the last four days, waiting to be signed.

“The file to approve these changes has been with the Lt Governor for the last four days. His predecessor, Anil Baijal, used to approve such files within half an hour,” the source said, adding that the reshuffle is going to be a major one.

All the same, sources from the LG office denied the allegation and said the file was signed on Wednesday and sent to the government.

Rebutting the claims from LG House sources, a source from AAP said, “This is to clarify that the LG has not yet given any approval to the cabinet reshuffle proposal. It is an earnest request that the media should avoid falling for the rumours being circulated today.”

“If at all the LG Office still wishes to stand by its baseless claims, it must produce a copy of the order or any other relevant evidence to prove the same,” it added.

(With inputs from agencies)