Girish Soni: AAP's Dalit face with big dreams for poor

NEW DELHI: One of the two Dalit faces in Arvind Kejriwal's young cabinet, Girish Soni with his tireless contribution to Aam Aadmi Party's 'Bijli-Pani' agitation has come a long way from the youth who had to give up on his higher studies owing to financial problems.

The 49-year-old MLA from Madipur nudged out BJP's candidate Kailash Sankla by a little over 1,100 votes to emerge victorious in the Delhi Assembly polls that witnessed AAP's stunning political debut.

Soni, who had been associated with Bharat Naujawan Sabha in 1980, was also the general secretary of the party in his constituency. He had tirelessly participated in AAP's 'Bijli-Pani' agitation and motivated people to join as well.

The AAP leader did his primary and high schooling from Madipur but owing to financial problem was unable to pursue higher education. So, instead he opted for a diploma course in air-conditioning and refrigeration from the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Pusa in Delhi.

Inspired by his father from an early age, Soni whose family sustained on a small leather business will now seek to be an inspiration for the lesser fortunate.

Soni took oath as a cabinet minister in Delhi government at the historic Ramlila Maidan along with Arvind Kejriwal, who was sworn-in as Delhi's Chief Minister. The other cabinet ministers who took oath along with Kejriwal are Manish Sisodia, Rakhi Birla, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Somanth Bharti and Satendra Jain.