AAP may keep out 3 former ministers from new cabinet

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party, set to form government after its Delhi assembly election win, may keep three of its former ministers out of its new cabinet and is likely to give a "more prominent" role to senior party leader Manish Sisodia, sources said today.

The party is expected to retain Satyendra Jain and Saurabh Bharadwaj but Rakhi Birla, Girish Soni and Somnath Bharti may not get ministerial berths, they said.

"Manish (Sisodia) will certainly have more enhanced and prominent role than last time. Saurabh (Bharadwaj) and Satyendra Jain could be retained while Rakhi (Birla), Girish Soni and Somnath (Bharti) may not find a place this time," said a senior AAP leader.

Sisodia was de facto number two in the earlier AAP cabinet handling important portfolios like education, PWD, Urban Development, local bodies and land and building.

Bharadwaj had handled Food and Supply, Transport, Environment, Election and GAD ministries while Jain was in charge of Health.

However, the party leaders have not met formally to dicuss the people to be inducted in the cabinet. The meeting is expected to take place tomorrow.

"Since yesterday, Arvind Kejriwal has not been keeping well. He left the victory celebrations early for his home in Kaushambi. After returning from his meeting with the Lt Governor yesterday, he had a sore throat and attended Kumar Vishwas's birthday party only for a brief time.

"Even today, he had fever but had prior appointments with Central ministers and the President. So there was no time to formally discuss the issue," the leader added.

Party sources added that this time, armed with a decisive mandate, Kejriwal has a lot of options. The party this time has people of varied background including engineers and lawyers.

The name of former Apple executive Adarsh Shastri, MLA from Dwarka, is doing the rounds for a ministerial berth. He could be tasked to execute the party's Wifi project.

Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba could also find a place in the ministry.