Atishi to be next Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal proposes name

Delhi minister Atishi pipped Kailash Gahlot to become the next Chief Minister of Delhi, two days after Arvind Kejriwal said he would step down from the top post. Atishi’s name was proposed by Kejriwal at the meeting of the legislature party, and it was unanimously accepted by the AAP MLAs.
Sources said there would be no Deputy Chief Minister and Atishi, who represents the Kalkaji constituency, would take oath during a special Assembly session on September 26-27.
Speaking on her appointment, Delhi minister Gopal Rai said, “The responsibility has been given to Atishi in testing times. Agencies were being misused against AAP to destabilise the government. AAP has frustrated these attempts.”
Rai said Atishi, who has been with the AAP since its inception, had two major responsibilities — to work for the two crore people of Delhi and stop the BJP’s conspiracies.
Kejriwal, who was granted bail in the liquor policy case last week, sent shockwaves through Delhi’s political circles after announcing on September 15 that he would resign in two days.
An Oxford University alumnus and a Rhodes scholar, Atishi is considered close to Kejriwal and former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, under whom she worked as an advisor till 2018.
In fact, Atishi’s importance can be gauged from the fact that Kejriwal, in a letter to Lt Governor VK Saxena, had recommended Atishi to hoist the national flag in his place during the Delhi government’s Independence Day programme.
Apart from being the only woman minister in the Delhi Cabinet, she is also in charge of 14 portfolios, including education, finance, public works department, revenue and services.
Atishi, known to work behind the scenes, became a household name as she became the face of the party after the arrest of Kejriwal and top AAP leaders in the liquor policy case. After Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21, Atishi was a regular at press conferences, defending the AAP chief and articulating the government’s stand.
The churn in Delhi’s politics comes ahead of Assembly polls in February next year. The immediate task of Atishi, an efficient administrator who has garnered praise for her work in improving Delhi’s education structure, will be to prepare the party for the elections.
Born to Delhi University professors Vijay Kumar Singh and Tripta Wahi, the 43-year-old started off her political journey with the AAP in 2013. She grabbed attention after she took part in the Jal Satyagraha in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh in 2015.
Her electoral career got off to an unsuccessful start as she was defeated by cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir from East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency in 2019.
However, she was elected from the Kalkaji seat in the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, defeating BJP’s Dharambir Singh by over 11,000 votes.