NEW DELHI: The recent decision to remove AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj as chairman of the Peace and Harmony Committee comes as an affirmation of the fact that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has rewarded only a few of the newly elected legislators of his party with plum posts. Of the 21 committees under the Delhi Assembly, Raghav Chadha, a first-time MLA from Rajinder Nagar, heads two and Atishi, who secured entry to the House for the first time from Kalkaji, has been named the chairperson of three panels. Bhardwaj isn’t heading any committee for the year 2020-21, says a list available on the official portal of the Assembly.
While the reason for shuffling the pack in the Peace and Harmony Committee isn’t clear yet, the decision to ask Chadha to steer the panel, which will seek to restore peace and amity in the riot-racked parts of the city, could be attributed to the fact that he is one of Kejriwal’s trusted lieutenants. A chartered accountant, Chadha even contested the Lok Sabha polls from South Delhi constituency, but lost to his BJP rival. He is also a member in three other panels.
As for the suave, Oxford-educated Atishi, she is seen as the behind-the-scenes workhorse when it comes to the new strides made by the Delhi government in the public education system. She is credited with the reformative and innovative steps that are believed to have changed the face of government school education in the Capital. Like Chadha, she is also a member of the AAP’s highest decision-making body — the National Executive.
Vying for a Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 elections from the East Delhi constituency, she met the same fate as Chadha, losing to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir. She is the chairperson of two committees — environment and ethics, as well as heading a standing committee on education. Bhardwaj is now a member of four panels — ethics, privileges, business advisory, as well as peace and harmony. Most of the 21 panels is headed by Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel. The AAP leader, who decides who would chair a particular committee, couldn’t be reached for comment in the matter.
AJOY KUMAR TO LEAD AAP CHARGE IN JHARKHAND
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday named spokesperson Ajoy Kumar as the chief of the party’s Jharkhand unit. Disaffected with the Congress, Kumar switched to AAP last year. A former IPS in Jharkhand, also known as the ‘super cop’, Kumar has been vested with the responsibility of taking the party’s ‘Kaam Ki Rajneeti’ (politics of work) to the state and elsewhere beyond Delhi. A former Congress MP from Jamshedpur, Kumar has also headed the party unit in Jharkhand. He served as the Superintendent of Police of Jamshedpur from 1994 to 1996.
He is also credited to have brought an improvement in the law and order situation in Jamshedpur during his time as SP. Born in Mangalore, Karnataka, Kumar obtained an MBBS degree from Jawahar Lal Institute, Puducherry, in 1985 and was elected to the police service a year later. He was upset after being removed as the Congress’s Jharkhand chief.