The portfolis of the ministers of the new Delhi government were announced after a cabinet meeting this evening. The ministries have been divided up between the Chief Minister and her six cabinet colleagues and it is Rekha Gupta, along with Parvesh Verma, who are doing the heavy lifting. The key portfolio of water has gone to Mr Verma, the son of former Chief Minister Saheb Singh Verma. He has also got the Irrigation and Flood Control Department, which is tasked with the cleanup of the Yamuna river, and Kapil Mishra has got the law department.
Ms Gupta will be handling at least 10 portfolios — and any others that are yet to be distributed, the government said.
The heaviest one in her basket is finance. While earlier there were expectations that she would be handling home, that department has gone Ashish Sood, who will be handling seven departments.
The Chief Minister’s other responsibilities include Revenue, General Administration, Information and Public Relations, Vigilance, Land and Building, and Women and Child Development portfolios.
A former vice-president of the BJP’s Delhi unit, Mr Sood’s other big responsibilities include two portfolios that have been in focus since the days of Aam Aadmi Party government – Education, which was a flagship sector of AAP and the power department, because of AAP’s massive power subsidy.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the BJP’s Sikh face in Delhi, has been handed Food and Supplies, Forest and Environment and Industries. As the industries minister, he is expected to chip in with the Yamuna clean-up, given the effluents from industries have a huge role in the pollution of river.
Kapil Misra, who first became a minister in Arvind Kejriwal’s government, then quit and joined the BJP, is now back in the Delhi cabinet. Besides the law and justice department, he will be in charge of Labour, Art and Culture, Language and Tourism portfolios.
Ravinder Singh is in charge of Social Welfare, SC and ST Welfare, Cooperative and Elections portfolios.