Delhi Minister Atishi will be the new Chief Minister after Arvind Kejriwal resigns from the post. The decision was reportedly taken at an legislators’ meeting of the Aam Aadmi Party today.Atishi is the third woman Chief Minister of Delhi after Sheila Dikshit and Sushma Swaraj.
Kejriwal is expected to tender his resignation later today, and will also meet Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at 4.30 pm.
Responsibilities Entrusted
According to AAP leader Gopal Rai, Atishi has been entrusted with two key responsibilities. First, she must continue serving the people of Delhi, despite pressure from the BJP. The second one is if BJP aims to reverse the positive work done by Arvind Kejriwal’s government, she would safeguard AAP’s achievements while exposing BJP’s attempts to undermine them.
Kejriwal is Set to Resign
On September 13, Arvind Kejriwal was released from Tihar Jail, where he had been held in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. Nearly two days after his release, Kejriwal announced on Sunday that he would resign as Chief Minister within 48 hours, calling for early elections in Delhi. He vowed not to return to the chief minister’s office until the public granted him a “certificate of honesty.”
On Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held a series of meetings, during which Kejriwal consulted with members of the party’s political affairs committee, its highest decision-making body, in one-on-one sessions at his official residence to discuss his potential successor.
Atishi and Politics
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Atishi, running as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate, was appointed in charge of East Delhi but lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir by a margin of 4.77 lakh votes.
In the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, she contested from the Kalkaji constituency and won, defeating BJP candidate Dharambir Singh by 11,422 votes. Following the resignations of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyender Jain, Atishi was later inducted as a Cabinet Minister in the Delhi government, alongside Saurabh Bharadwaj.
According to news agency PTI, Delhi ministers Atishi, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, and Saurabh Bharadwaj were mentioned as potential contenders for the Chief Minister position. Other names in consideration included Sunita Kejriwal, Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, and Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel. Additionally, Mangolpuri MLA Rakhi Birla, who is also the Deputy Speaker, and Kondli legislator Kuldeep Kumar were seen as possible candidates. PTI sources also suggested that a surprise candidate could emerge from the minority community, as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has seen its support among this group fluctuate since the 2020 Delhi riots.
