Raaj Kumar Anand, a lawmaker for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has been named a new minister in the Delhi cabinet, according to a notification released by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on behalf of President Droupadi Murmu.
The November 1 announcement reads: “The President is pleased to appoint Shri Raaj Kumar Anand as a Minister in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, with effect from the date he is sworn in. This appointment is on the advice of the Chief Minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.”
On condition of anonymity, a government official stated that Anand will take the oath of office on Thursday at Raj Niwas and that lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena will administer it. The person stated that the minister will assume control of the Delhi secretariat office shortly after taking the oath.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, Anand’s predecessor, resigned on October 9 due to controversy surrounding his participation in a religious conversion program. Anand is a member of the Jatav community, much like Gautam. Anand, a Patel Nagar MLA, was suggested by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to the lieutenant governor for inclusion in the Delhi Cabinet on October 19.
Anand, a political science postgraduate, and his wife, Veena Anand, joined the anti-corruption campaign in 2011. His wife had been elected to the state assembly in 2013 from the Patel Nagar district. She lost the seat in the 2015 assembly elections to Hazari Lal Chauhan, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Raaj Kumar Anand ran for the position in the assembly elections in 2020 and won.
In Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Cabinet, Mr. Anand, a Dalit activist and MLA from the Patel Nagar district will take the seat of former Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam. After the BJP stirred up a political uproar over his rejection of Hindu gods at an event to embrace Buddhism on October 5, Mr. Gautam resigned as a minister on October 9. Mr. Anand should be appointed as the next minister in the Delhi Cabinet, as Mr. Kejriwal requested in a letter to the L-G last month. President Droupadi Murmu accepted the Delhi government’s recommendation on Tuesday.
Gautam served as the minister for social welfare, SC and ST, co-operative society registration, and gurudwara elections ministries. Anand is from the same Jatav community as Gautam.
President Droupadi Murmu accepted the AAP government’s suggestion, therefore on Thursday, Raaj Kumar Anand, a first-time MLA, would be sworn in as a member of CM Arvind Kejriwal’s Cabinet. Anand is an assemblyman for the Patel Nagar district.
The new minister will take over in the Delhi Secretariat after Anand receives the oath of office and secrecy from lieutenant governor VK Saxena in the morning, according to officials.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party was founded in 2012, Anand has been connected to it. He was connected to the anti-corruption movement before then. In political science, he earned his MA.
Raj Kumar Anand, a Patel Nagar MLA, has been named the Delhi government’s newest minister, one day after President Droupadi Murmu accepted the resignation of former Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had written L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena in order to do this.
Kejriwal addressed the media during a press conference, “I have filed a letter to the L-G to make Patel Nagar MLA Raj Kumar Anand the next minister.” After the L-G has approved the CM’s proposals, the portfolio will be distributed.
But according to party members, he was selected and would hold the portfolio of the minister of social welfare. I shall live up to his expectations and work for the improvement of people’s lives and the growth of the city, Anand said to The Indian Express. “I am glad and grateful to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for considering me for this role.
Anand was active with the anti-corruption campaign before the AAP’s creation in 2011–2012 when he and his wife Veena joined. Veena ran for the Patel Nagar seat in the 2013 election and won. Anand and Veena failed to win a seat in the constituency in 2015. Anand ran in the district in 2020 and won the Assembly elections. He holds a master’s in political science. Prior to joining the party, he was the director of Anand Path, a nonprofit organization for the uplift of disadvantaged children, through which he founded “Ambedkar Pathshala.”
