President clears appointment of Kejriwal as Delhi CM

President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared the decks for the appointment of Arvind Kejriwal as the 7th Chief Minister of Delhi.

According to television reports, President Mukherjee has forwarded the letter of appointment to a Joint Secretary level officer of Ministry of Home Affairs.

Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary of Delhi has reportedly met Kejriwal, to finalize arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony as well as the names of the members of the state cabinet.

Kejriwal has also appointed IAS officer Rajendra Kumar as his principal secretary

Kumar is an officer of 1989 batch and has worked in several departments, including education, information technology, health and transport.

He was transferred from the transport department after the December 16 gangrape in 2012.

Rajendra Kumar is also been credited for change in government school performances during his tenure as Director, Education around 10 years ago.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Monday had staked claim to form the government in the national capital, and are having a meeting today to finalize its Cabinet.

The key figures in his Cabinet could include Manish Sisodia representing Patparganj constituency, Somnath Bharti from Malviya Nagar constituency, Rakhi Birla from Mangolpuri constituency.

Saurabh Bhardwaj from Greater Kailash constituency and Vinod Kumar Binny from Laxmi Nagar constituency are also likely to be part of Arvind Kejriwal's Cabinet.

On Monday, Kejriwal also met Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung and staked a claim to form the next government in Delhi with Congress' support.

"I have handed over the letter to the Lt. Governor stating that we are ready to form a government in Delhi," Kejriwal told the media.

"As soon as the President orders it, the date for the oath ceremony will be fixed. The oath will be taken at Ram Lila Maidan," he said.

Kejriwal had earlier said that the party has decided to form the Government in Delhi with Congress' support.

"We have got overwhelming participation of people during the public meetings. About 80 percent of them have favoured that party should form the government," Kejriwal told media here.

In a public meeting on Sunday, Kejriwal, whose one-year-old party had its roots in the anti-corruption movement, rebuffed allegations that his party was hesitant to form government.

"We will deliver whatever we assured in our manifesto. It (the manifesto) was prepared after wide consultations and a lot of thought went into it," he said.

The AAP had bagged 28 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly. The BJP had emerged as the single largest party by winning 31 seats while the Congress had stood a poor third with eight seats.

The BJP decided not to form the government, following which AAP leaders met Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and sought 10 days time. The AAP then held a referendum to know from the people whether or not they should form a minority government.