AAP lawmaker Mukesh Ahlawat to be new face in Atishi’s Cabinet

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker Mukesh Ahlawat will be the new face induced into Atishi’s Cabinet when she takes oath on Saturday as the Delhi chief minister along with four other ministers, who also served in her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal’s ministry. Ahlawat is a lawmaker from Delhi’s Sultanpur Majra.
AAP said Saurabh Bhardwaj, Kailash Gahlot, Gopal Rai, and Imraan Hussain will be retained in the new Cabinet. Ahlawat will fill the vacancy created in the previous Cabinet following the resignation of social welfare minister Raaj Kumar Anand in May.
The Delhi assembly has 70 members and the Cabinet can have a maximum of seven ministers, including the chief minister.
A major reshuffle of portfolios was also expected as Atishi handled finance, the public works department, education, power, women and child development, etc in Kejriwal’s ministry. Kejriwal did not have any portfolio.
The previous Cabinet will be dissolved when Kejriwal’s resignation is accepted. The President appoints the Delhi chief minister under the Constitution’s Article 239AA (5). The ministers are appointed on the chief minister’s advice.
Lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena sent the file on the chief minister’s appointment to the President for approval on Wednesday, proposing Saturday for the swearing-in ceremony. Kejriwal resigned as the chief minister on Tuesday after Atishi was nominated as his successor.