Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as the Delhi CM in February 2015 after winning 67 out of 70 seats in the assembly elections. After winning by such a huge margin people expected that Kejriwal would embark upon a development drive which was wasn’t hindered by coalition partners like his previous 49 day stint as Chief Minister.
But soon people were a bit surprised when it was reported that Kejriwal had decided not to hold any ministerial portfolios and the explanation given for the same was that he would oversee all the ministries via “modern technologies” and will try to bring in “systematic changes.
This “lack of portfolio” continued to be a point which was used by Kejriwal’s opponents to attack him, who called him the only CM in the country without a portfolio. Finally this May, reports came out which suggested that Kejriwal was ready to assume the responsibilities of a portfolio soon, as part of a strategy devised by his party insiders to reportedly reunite with the people on the ground.
Now according to reports, just a day after a substantial reshuffle took place in the Modi government, a small reshuffle has also taken place in the Kejriwal government with the Chief Minister himself assuming the responsibility of a ministry. The reports claimed that Kejriwal has taken charge of the water ministry because he was unhappy with the performance of the incumbent minister Rajendra Pal Gautam. Incidentally this ministry was held by rebel AAP leader Kapil Mishra until the time he was sacked from that position in May.
The reason given for choosing the water ministry is that water and sewage would be the focus of the government. The supporters of Kejriwal also confirmed the speculation that apart from being the water minister he would also be the Chairman of Delhi Jal Board.
On one hand this was a positive news for Kejriwal, on the other hand it was reported that Kejriwal was in further trouble with regards to the 2nd defamation case filed against him by Arun Jaitley. Kejriwal who was earlier slapped with a Rs 10,000 fine by the Delhi High Court, has now been asked to pay Rs 5,000 over his delay to submit a reply to the defamation case.
