Kejriwal Drops Kumar Vishwas’ Aide Kapil Mishra From Cabinet

Kapil Mishra alleged on Sunday that he saw health minister Satyendra Jain pay Rs 2 crore to CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Sacked minister Kapil Mishra (L) and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. (Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dropped Water Minister Kapil Mishra from his Cabinet on Saturday. Mishra is a close aide of AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, who had recently threatened to quit the party. Mishra had extended support to Vishwas when the latter clashed with the party leadership – a move that reports claim may have cost him his portfolio.

Najafgarh MLA Kailash Gahlot will now be given charge of the Water Ministry. Seemapuri MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam is also expected to be inducted into the Delhi Cabinet along with Gahlot.

Speaking about Mishra’s removal, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said:

Water management was not up to the mark. Kapil Mishra made a lot of effort, but the CM decided to bring in Kailash Gahlot in his place.

Soon after the move, Mishra claimed he would "expose" the involvement of certain AAP leaders in a “tanker scam”.

He said he had met the Chief Minister earlier in the day and handed over documents related to the alleged scam.

Will reveal big names, and maybe because of those names such a decision has been made. I had informed CM that I would submit names of those to Anti-Corruption Bureau, who are involved in the delay.

Kapil Mishra to News Agency ANI

In his tweets, he also asserted that he is the “only minister with no corruption charges”, and that he considered AAP his own party.

Speaking to PTI, Mishra said:

I was not informed of the decision (to drop him from the Cabinet) and as per my knowledge, it was taken unilaterally by Kejriwal. The Cabinet or the Political Affairs Committee (AAP’s top decision-making body) were not involved.

Mishra is considered close to Vishwas, who had recently threatened to quit the party after Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that Vishwas was an “RSS-BJP agent”.

Khan was later suspended from the party in an effort to strike a compromise with Vishwas.

(With inputs from PTI.)