Selecting six from 66: Kejriwal’s new challenge after huge win

The AAP is facing a herculean task of selecting six ministers from 66 MLAs, besides the Chief Minister. The reason is simple. Legislatures from all hues and communities have made up the 70-member House this time. Substantial number of Poorvanchalis, Muslims and Sikhs have become MLAs — throwing a challenge before Arvind Kejriwal whom to select or drop.

On the other hand, former ministers are also expecting to become ministers. 

Meanwhile, party sources said some new faces could be included in the Cabinet. Each of the six former Cabinet ministers, namely Manish Sisodia, Somnath Bharti, Rakhi Birla, Satyendra Jain, Girish Soni and Saurabh Bharadwaj have managed to retain their seats with a comfortable margin this time.

Among them, Sisodia, Somnath Bharti, Bharadwaj and Rakhi are most likely to make a comeback in the Delhi government.

According to sources, former Apple executive Adarsh Shastri is one of the possible new faces to spearhead the implementation of AAP’s free wi-fi promise. He won the seat from Dwarka with a huge margin. He is the grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. 

“The selection of ministers is the prerogative of the Chief Minister. As far as the party is concerned we want performing ministers,” said Pankaj Gupta, national secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party.

According to sources, Gopal Rai, who is a member of the core team of AAP and elected MLA from Babarpur, is likely to get a post in the Cabinet or will be designated to be the next Speaker of the newly formed Delhi Assembly. The party strategists are also trying to pick a member from the minority community. There are nine newly-elected MLAs from minority communities — among them are four Muslims, four Sikhs and one from the Jain community. In 2013, AAP had no MLA from the Muslim community but this time four of them have got elected.

The Muslim MLAs are- Imran Hussain (Ballimaran), Amanatullah Khan (Okhla), Haji Ishraque (Seelampur ) and Asim Ahmed Khan (Matia Mahal). While the Sikh MLAs are Jarnail Singh from Rajouri Garden, Jagdeep Singh (Hari Nagar), Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar) and Avtar Singh Kalka (Kalkaji). While Satyendra Jain (Shakur Basti) is the only elected MLA from the Jain community.