Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 21: Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena Singh on Saturday became the eighth chief minister of Delhi succeeding the party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who resigned after being released on bail by the Supreme Court in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.
The 43-year old Ms Atishi, who is the third woman chief minister of the capital city but the youngest of all, was sworn in by the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at a low key event at the Raj Niwas. With her, five ministers including four who were also the members of the previous Kejriwal cabinet also took oath as ministers.
While she and other members of her cabinet met Mr Kejriwal before taking oath, she fell on his feet after taking oath and took his blessings to serve as an effective chief minister, though her tenure will only be for a brief period of five months since Delhi Assembly elections are due in February, next year.
Along with Ms Atishi, five others Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain, all ministers in Kejriwal cabinet, and Mukesh Ahlawat, a new entrant, also took oath of office and secrecy. Ms has also became the 17th woman to hold the post of Chief Minister in independent India.
A first-time legislator, Ms Atishi is a key face of the party and managed the AAP’s operations during Arvind Kejriwal’s time in Tihar jail in connection with the excise policy case. As Delhi’s third woman Chief Minister, Ms Atishi follows in the footsteps of the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and the Congress’ Sheila Dikshit. Currently, she is only the second woman chief minister in the country at present, alongside West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee.
The oath ceremony was a low-key event as the mood in the AAP was not upbeat due to Mr Kejriwal’s resignation. “It is an emotional moment for me as he (Arvind Kejriwal) will not be the Chief Minister. He understood the pain of every person. He ensured free treatment for people, worked to improve the lives of the students of government schools, brought the provision of free bus rides for women,” Atishi said.
“I assure you that since Kejriwal has come out of jail now, we will not let any conspiracy of the BJP succeed,” she added. The Kalkaji MLA held multiple portfolios in the previous Arvind Kejriwal government. She has to prove her government’s majority in the 70-member assembly in a special session on September 26-27.
Ms Atishi’s elevation to the top post comes at a crucial juncture for the AAP, which is looking to retain power in the Delhi assembly election early next year. She will have to fast-track pending policies and schemes for public welfare.
Running against time, she has her task cut out to ensure implementation of schemes such as Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, Electric Vehicle Policy 2.0 and doorstep delivery of services. Atishi is not new to rising to such situations. Her induction into the cabinet also happened when the government was going through testing times following the arrest of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia last year in the liquor policy case.
Even though Atishi joined the AAP in 2013, she stayed in the background working as an adviser to the government on education policies and made a foray into electoral politics only in 2019 when she unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from East Delhi against BJP’s Gautam Gambhir. In 2020, Atishi contested the Delhi election and won from Kalkaji.
Earlier on Friday, officials at the lieutenant governor’s office said that President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Atishi as the chief minister of Delhi from the date of her being sworn in and has also accepted Kejriwal’s resignation. The President also cleared the appointment of five ministers.
After Kejriwal tendered resignation as Delhi Chief Minister along with his council of ministers to Lieutenant Governor on Tuesday, files of both the resignation and government formation by Atishi were sent to President for her nod, the officials said.
According to the portfolios distributed later in the evening, Ns Atishi will hold 13 portfolios, including finance, revenue, PWD, power and education among others, same as the previous Kejriwal government. Rai has been given the charge of the environment, development and general administration departments, while Bharadwaj will look after the health, tourism and urban development departments among others.
Gahlot has been given the responsibility of transport, home and women and child development departments, while Hussain has been given the charge of food and supplies and elections. Ahlawat has been made the minister of Gurudwara elections, SC&ST, Labour and Employment departments.
After being inducted in the Cabinet, Ahlawat said that his priorities will be to work for the people of Dalit and backward communities. “It’s all because of Arvind Kejriwal and Baba Saheb that people like me become the Minister. We will work as much as possible – the priorities will be to work for the people of Dalit and backward communities…” he said.
