Kejriwal sacks Kapil Mishra, inducts 2 new faces in ministry

In a sudden move, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday divested Kapil Mishra of his Water and Tourism and Culture portfolios and is to induct AAP legislators Rajendra Pal Gautam and Kailash Gehlot in the Cabinet. It is being speculated that Mishra has paid the price for siding with senior party leader Kumar Vishwas who has been at loggerheads with the party leadership.

The party also inducted two new faces — Seemapuri MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam and Najafgarh legislator Kailash Gehlot — into the Cabinet. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that water management had not been up to the mark, as a result of which Chief Minister Kejriwal decided to bring Gahlot in Mishra's Place.

A senior official said that the decision to remove Mishra was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. After the sacking of Sandeep Kumar over an alleged sex scand last year, there was no Dalit face in Delhi Cabinet. Seemapuri MLA Rajendra Pal gautam fills this vacuum as the Dalit face in the Kejriwal ministry.

Soon after the move, Mishra claimed he would "expose" the involvement of certain AAP leaders in an alleged scam today. He said that he had met the chief minister earlier in the day and handed over documents related to the alleged scam.

"I was not informed of the decision and as per my knowledge, it was taken unilaterally by Kejriwal. The Cabinet or the Political Affairs Committee (the AAP's top decision making body) was not involved," said Mishra.