AAP's Saurabh Bhardwaj set to become minister again

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) Saurabh Bharadwaj, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and three-time MLA from Greater Kailash seat, has been retained in the new council of ministers headed by chief minister-designate Atishi that will take oath on September 21.

Bharadwaj, an engineer turned politician, was also a minister with important portfolios of transport and environment in the 49 days Arvind Kejriwal government in December 2013. He was however dropped later when AAP came back to power in 2015.

The 44-year-old leader is known for his strong defence of AAP and scathing attacks on the BJP as national spokesperson of the party. His claim to fame also includes his act of trying to prove possible tampering of EVMs through a dummy machine in Delhi Assembly in 2017.

He became minister again in March 2023 in the third stint of the Kejriwal government after the victory of AAP in the 2020 polls.

He was holding Health, Urban Development, Tourism, Art Culture, Industries, and Flood Control departments in the Kejriwal government, which resigned on Tuesday.

Bharadwaj, who also holds a law degree, quit his engineer job in 2005 and got associated with social work and activism. He joined the AAP after Kejriwal and his associates of India Against Corruption Days formed the party and contested Assembly polls in 2013.

In his first election as AAP leader, he defeated BJP veteran VK Malhotra's son from the Greater Kailash constituency in 2013. PTI VIT HIG