New Delhi [India], February 21 : Delhi Minister Ashish Sood, upon joining the Cabinet, pledged to fulfil the BJP government's promise of ending bad governance in the capital.
Speaking to ANI, Sood emphasized that the party now has the responsibility to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and ensure progress in line with the direction set by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
"The people have voted to end bad governance in Delhi. Now, it is the BJP government's responsibility to actualise PM Narendra Modi's guarantee... We will fulfil our work in whichever direction our (Chief Minister) points us in," Ashish Sood said.
BJP's Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi Chief Minister on Thursday in a ceremony at Ramlila Maidan. After the first cabinet meeting, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta allocated portfolios to the Ministers in the state government.
Speaking to ANI she said, ""The Congress ruled for 15 years and the AAP ruled for 13. Instead of looking at what they did, how can they raise questions on one day of ours?... We had a cabinet meeting on day 1, immediately after taking the oath, and we cleared the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which was blocked by AAP. We gave a benefit of Rs. 10 lakhs to the people of Delhi on the first day. They don't have any right to question us... We will worry about Delhi now and Delhi will get its rights under the leadership of PM Modi... They should look after their party; there are many people who want to leave... They are worried that when the CAG report will be tabled in the House, records of a lot of people would be exposed..."
As Chief Minister, Gupta has taken responsibility for departments such as General Administration, Services, Finance, Revenue, Women and Child Development, Land and Building, Information and Public Relations, Vigilance, Administrative Reforms, Planning, and any other departments not allocated to any other minister.
BJP MLA Pravesh Verma will be in-charge of the Public Works Department (PWD), Legislative Affairs, Irrigation and Flood Control Department (I&FC), Water, and Gurdwara elections.
Minister Ashish Sood has been allocated Home, Power, Urban Development, Education, Higher Education, Training and Technical Education department. Manjinder Singh Sira, BJP MLA from Rajouri Garden, will be responsible for the Food and Supplies, Forest and Environment, and Industries departments.Minister Ravinder Singh (Indraj) has been allocated the Social Welfare, SC and ST Welfare, Cooperative, and Elections departments. Minister Kapil Mishra has been given Law and Justice, Labour, Employment, Art and Culture, Language, and Tourism departments. Pankaj Kumar Singh has been given the responsibility of Health and Family welfare, transport and Information Technology department.
On Thursday, CM Rekha Gupta and her cabinet attended the evening Aarti on the banks of the Yamuna and said that the resolution of making the Yamuna clean will be the priority of the Delhi government.