Sheila shuffles Delhi pack
Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit has got the approval to change portfolios of the ministers in view of the Assembly elections next year, reports Amitabh Shukla.
DELHI CM Sheila Dikshit did not get a nod from the Congress high command for her proposed cabinet reshuffle but succeeded in getting its approval to change portfolios of the ministers in view of the Assembly elections next year.
Two of the three ministers who had rebelled against Dikshit and approached party president Sonia Gandhi in the wake of the ‘Chholegate’ scam in which contractor Ashok Malhotra allegedly bribed civic officials to get slum land allotted to him, found their departments changed.
A.K. Walia was removed from the important Urban Development and Public Works Department and given Power. Haroon Yusuf lost Power and got Food and Civil Supplies instead.
Arvinder Singh Lovely, however, retained Education and Tourism. The only minister who sided with Dikshit, Raj Kumar Chauhan, got Urban Development and PWD, and retained his previous portfolios.
Mangat Ram Singhal and Yoganand Shastri, who were neutral, retained their Industry and Health departments, respectively. Dikshit was away in Belarus when the announcement of the changes was made on Saturday.