Atishi Appointed as Delhi's New Chief Minister;
Atishi will be Delhi’s new chief minister following a legislative party meeting at Arvind Kejriwal's residence earlier today, where her name was proposed.
Kejriwal is expected to submit his resignation later today and will meet Lieutenant governor VK Saxena at 4:30 pm. Atishi will become the third woman to hold the position of chief minister in delhi, after sheila dikshit and sushma Swaraj.
Upon her appointment, Atishi referred to kejriwal as her “guru” and expressed gratitude for his trust in her. She acknowledged the unique nature of the aam aadmi party (AAP) under Kejriwal’s leadership, which allowed her to transition from mla to minister, and now to Chief Minister. Atishi also expressed her sadness over Kejriwal's impending resignation, claiming that the bjp has conspired to create challenges for him.
Kejriwal’s Resignation Announcement
On september 13, arvind kejriwal was released from Tihar Jail, where he had been held in connection with the delhi liquor policy case. Just two days after his release, he announced that he would resign as chief minister within 48 hours. kejriwal also called for early elections in delhi and stated that he would not resume his role until he received a “certificate of honesty” from the people.
On Monday, AAP conducted a series of meetings where kejriwal sought feedback from the political affairs committee, the party’s top decision-making body, regarding his successor.
Atishi’s Political Career
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Atishi was the AAP’s in-charge for east delhi but lost to BJP’s gautam gambhir by a margin of 4.77 lakh votes. In the 2020 delhi Legislative assembly elections, she contested from the Kalkaji constituency and defeated bjp candidate Dharambir Singh by 11,422 votes. Later, she was appointed as a cabinet minister in the delhi government, alongside Saurabh Bharadwaj, following the resignations of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and health minister Satyender Jain.
Potential chief minister Candidates
Several names were circulated as potential candidates for chief minister, including Atishi, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, and Saurabh Bharadwaj. Other names mentioned were Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita kejriwal, assembly Speaker ram Niwas Goel, Mangolpuri mla Rakhi Birla (deputy speaker in the assembly), and Kondli legislator kuldeep Kumar. Some sources suggested that the party might consider a candidate from the minority community due to a perceived decline in support from this group since the 2020 delhi riots.