Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai quit

Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai resigned on 14 June 2016 citing poor health. Rai recently underwent major surgery to remove a bullet that had been lodged in his neck for 17 years.

His resignation was accepted by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who gave his portfolio to cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain. Jain already holds key portfolios of Public Works Department (PWD), Health, Power and Home.

With this resignation, the departments left with Rai are the Labour, Irrigation and Flood Control department, the General Administration Department and the Development and Employment department.

About Gopal Rai
• Gopal Rai is a Post-graduate in Sociology from Lucknow University.
• He began his career with the All India Students Association, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, in Lucknow University in 1992.
• He is a member of the National Executive of the Aam Aadmi party.
• He was elected as MLA from Babarpur constituency in Delhi Legislative election 2015 and got the Ministry of Transport and Labour.

Background
Presently, Rai is also facing allegations of corruption in connection with a proposal for a premium, app-based bus service in Delhi. The bus service was supposed to start during the second phase of the odd-even traffic rule in Delhi.

That proposal, though, became void after allegations that a particular bus aggregator was being favoured by Rai.