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Atishi Appointed Delhi’s Next Chief Minister as Kejriwal Resigns

Cheif Minister

Delhi minister Atishi has been chosen by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators to be the next Chief Minister of Delhi, just two days after Arvind Kejriwal announced his decision to step down from the top post. Atishi’s nomination was proposed by Kejriwal during a meeting of the legislature party and was unanimously accepted by the AAP MLAs.

Arvind Kejriwal is set to formally submit his resignation to Lt Governor Vineet Saxena this evening. Sources have indicated that there will be no Deputy Chief Minister, and Atishi, who represents the Kalkaji constituency, will be sworn in during a special Assembly session scheduled for September 26-27.

Delhi minister Gopal Rai, in his statement on Atishi’s appointment, emphasised the challenging times ahead. He remarked that the responsibility has been handed to Atishi during a period when agencies were being allegedly misused to destabilise the AAP government. Rai underscored that AAP has effectively countered these attempts. He outlined Atishi’s dual responsibilities: serving the two crore residents of Delhi and thwarting the BJP’s alleged conspiracies against the party.

Atishi is an Oxford University alumna and a Rhodes scholar. She is known to be closely associated with Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, under whom she served as an advisor until 2018. Her prominence within the AAP was highlighted when Kejriwal recommended her to hoist the national flag in his stead during the Delhi government’s Independence Day programme.

Currently, Atishi is the only woman minister in the Delhi Cabinet and oversees 14 portfolios, including education, finance, public works department, revenue, and services. Her work, particularly in the education sector, has been widely praised. Atishi is also noted for her behind-the-scenes work and became a key figure in the public eye following the arrests of Kejriwal and other AAP leaders in the liquor policy case. Following Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21, she frequently represented the party at press conferences, defending the AAP chief and articulating the government’s stance.

The timing of this political shift is significant, coming just ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February next year. Atishi’s immediate task as Chief Minister will be to prepare the AAP for these elections while managing the administrative responsibilities of her new role.

Atishi’s political career began with AAP in 2013, and she first gained significant attention through her participation in the Jal Satyagraha in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh, in 2015. Despite an initial setback in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections where she was defeated by cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir from the East Delhi constituency, Atishi secured a significant victory in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections. She won the Kalkaji seat by a margin of over 11,000 votes, defeating BJP’s Dharambir Singh.

As Atishi prepares to take on the role of Chief Minister, her focus will be on maintaining party unity, managing the government’s various responsibilities, and gearing up for the upcoming electoral challenge.

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