AAP’s Dalit face was giant killer in 2015 polls

NEW DELHI: Women and child development minister San deep Kumar, who was sacked by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, emerged as a giant killer in the 2015

NEW DELHI: Women and child development minister San deep Kumar, who was sacked by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, emerged as a giant killer in the 2015 assembly elections by defeating five-time Congress legislator Jai Kishan from Sulatnpur Majra in North Delhi.

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A first-time legislator, Kumar, 35, was selected for the cabinet by chief minister Kejriwal as the party’s Dalit face.

He was chosen over Mangolpuri legislator Rakhi Bidlan who was inducted as a Dalit representative in the Kejriwal cabinet during its 49-day tenure after she defeated Congress minister Raj Kumar Chauhan.

Kumar was also handling the SC/ST and social welfare departments. He made headlines on International Women’s Day on March 8 last year when he said he touched his wife’s feet daily to thank her for the “sacrifices” she had made for him.

In March this year, he reportedly forced a government school principal to put his wife’s name on an inaugural plaque at the school. Kumar was pulled up by the chief minister for the alleged impropriety.

Last year, during the DUSU polls, he allegedly disrupted classes and asked professors to leave as he had to campaign for the party’s student candidates.