Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has emphasised that he was never a remote control, but he, all the same enjoyed the rights to run the government as the acting Chief Minister of Delhi.
Sisodia’s status of acting chief minister will end on Monday as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to join office on Tuesday.
“I am acting Chief Minister. I have both the mike and the remote with me,” said Sisodia, when asked if the Delhi government was being run via remote control from Bangaluru. It’s pertinent to mention that Kejriwal, before leaving for Bangaluru on March 5, appointed Sisodia as the acting Chief Minister. Sisodia also holds all the important departments in the government, which was held by the Chief Minister during his earlier 49-day stint. He further added that he is concentrating all his energies on running the government in the absence of Kejriwal.
In his 10-day tenure as acting CM, Sisodia, besides supervising the daily work of the government, conducted a meeting of the Cabinet as well. Under his leadership, the cabinet took a policy decision to tweak VAT rules to allow a ‘carry forward’ facility to traders, besides summoning two-day Assembly session on March 24 and 25. Sisodia also presented the achievements and the roadmap of his government on completion of one month in office, in which he announced the appointment of 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries to the ministers.
Sisodia also raised his position in the Aam Admi Party to second in command, after successfully handling the party crisis and expulsion of the two senior party leaders, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.
Kejriwal is presently undergoing naturopathy treatment for high blood sugar and cough in Bengaluru and is slated to return on Monday evening. Accompanied by his parents, Kejriwal had on March 5, left for Bangaluru for treatment for chronic cough and high blood sugar. Lately, the Aam Aadmi Party has been stirred by a series of stings, facing attacks from both the BJP and Congress.