Centre clears names of two Delhi ministers; file sent to President

Names of AAP MLAs Kailash Gahlot and Rajendra Pal Gautam were approved by the Union Home Ministry for inclusion in the 27-month-old Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal and sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for final clearance.

The file containing the Home Ministry's recommendation has been sent to the President for a final decision, official sources said. However, the President is currently on a tour to West Bengal and will return on Friday.

Sources said that the Home Ministry had given its clearance to these two names. As per the rules, the Delhi government has to take permission of the Centre before carrying out any expansion in its cabinet.

Delhi government can have six cabinet ministers besides the Chief Minister. At present there is a vacancy of two ministers after Kejriwal sacked Kapil Mishra and Sandeep Kumar, who was embroiled in a controversy after a CD showing him in an objectionable position surfaced.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal had accused the Centre of "stalling" the Delhi government's activities by allegedly holding back files relating to the appointment of two new ministers in his Cabinet. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also said it amounted to violation of the Constitution and accused the Centre of "paralysing" the Delhi government.

Kejriwal had said the people of Delhi should not suffer due to the BJP-led NDA government's "enmity" with the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.

Sisodia said the Delhi government had on May 6 sent the files relating to the induction of Gautam and Gehlot in the Delhi Cabinet, but the Centre is yet to clear the same.