AAP government in no hurry to replace Kumar

While Women and Child Development Minister Sandeep Kumar has been sacked from the Cabinet, the Aam Aadmi Party government does not seem to be in a rush to appoint a new Minister.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejrwal has given Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia the three portfolios that Mr. Kumar held - Woman and Child Development, Social Welfare and SC/ST welfare.

With Mr. Kejriwal travelling for the next one week and even Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung out of Delhi, party officials said the appointment of a new minister will take time.

“The CM is yet to take a call. But a reshuffle of departments is likely to take place soon,” a senior Delhi government official said.

Mr. Kumar, who was the Dalit face of the government, had defeated Congress’ three-time winner Jai Kishan by over 64,000 votes to win the Sultanpur Majra seat in the Assembly elections last year.

Sources said after the appointment of Rakhi Bidlan in the cabinet as the Deputy Speaker, who represents the reserved SC seat Mangolpuri constituency, the new Minister might not be from the SC community.

The government has called a special one-day long session on September 9 to discuss affairs in the State. The government may table the ‘controversial’ Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report while the issue of Assembly Secretary Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara is likely to be taken up.

According to media reports, the CAG audited the Delhi government’s advertising and publicity department. The BJP has claimed that the CAG report has slammed the AAP government for ‘splurging’ on advertising outside Delhi.

The AAP government was widely criticised for its huge advertisement budget of Rs 526 crore last year, which has been trimmed to Rs 250 crore this year.

Transfer of officials

With both AAP government and the L-G at loggerheads over control of Delhi administration, officials are caught in the crossfire. The recent casualty in the tussle is Assembly Secretary Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel has refused to relieve him from the charge even as the L-G in his order on Tuesday has transferred him to the All India Radio, which comes under Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

But on Thursday, the CM, while advocating the engagement of professionals in handling the government’s various projects, said the AAP government had appointed an engineer as PWD Secretary and a doctor as Health Secretary who did a brilliant job, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi “removed” them and posted bureaucrats instead.

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