AAP legislator Raghuvinder Shokeen from Nangloi Jat was inducted into the Delhi Cabinet on Monday-a day after Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot resigned from the cabinet as well as the party, citing corruption issues.
Welcoming Shokeen, 57, AAP leader Manish Sisodia said that the party convenor Arvind Kejriwal hand-picks him to fill the vacancy created by Gahlot's exit.
Shokeen’s entry into the Cabinet appears to be AAP’s attempt to keep Jat voters from rural Delhi happy by maintaining the community’s representation in Chief Minister Atishi’s team.
Shokeen, a civil engineer who has served as MCD councillor twice, thanked AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for the opportunity to serve the public as a minister and attacked the BJP for its anti-Jat actions during the farmers’ protest and wrestlers’ agitation.
"The BJP has been dividing the Jat community. In Haryana, the BJP fought the election on the plank of Jat versus others," he said, adding that AAP always served all communities.
Sisodia also questioned Gahlot's decision to join the BJP. "If he wants to work with the BJP and maintain his dignity, we cannot say anything. It's his decision. Where he wants to contest from or which party he wants to stay in — every person has their choice," he said.
In another move to help the AAP further reach out to rural and Jat voters, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inducted Congress leader Sumesh Shokeen into the party on Monday.
Kejriwal put the opportunity to special mention of how voters in 'Delhi Dehat' did not feel as part of Delhi city under the previous Congress government. "After we came to power, we raised the crop compensation rate to Rs 20,000 per acre and fulfilled villagers' demands by building sewage treatment plants, playgrounds, stadium, schools, mohalla clinics, hospital, and roads."
Former Delhi Chief Minister while laying out his strategy to woo rural voters ahead of Assembly elections in February said, "Tremendous amount of development has been carried out in rural areas under our government."
Welcoming Sumesh Shokeen, Kejriwal said that his induction into the party will add to AAP's popularity in rural areas.
The AAP's decision to promote a Jat MLA to the role of Delhi Cabinet Minister and inducting another from the Congress seems a step towards rectifying the damage Gahlot's exit might have caused as he joined the BJP on Monday.
In Delhi, Jats constitute 5 per cent of the entire population and are mainly spread across northern and western rural belts. Given their significant presence in the electoral arena, about 10 percent of legislators in the 70-member Delhi Assembly have always been from the community since 2008.
Read also| Delhi Congress Slams AAP as a 'Sinking Ship' After Gahlot's Resignation
Read also| After Gahlot's Resignation, Delhi Congress Labels AAP a 'Sinking Ship'
