Atishi will become the third woman to hold the post of Delhi's chief minister after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dixit.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday proposed the name of senior party leader and minister Atishi as his successor. The decision was taken at the CM house after a discussion with all party MLAs.
“All the MLAs agreed to the CM’s choice. Atishi will now become the interim CM for the next five months until the Assembly polls are announced in Delhi,” said a party official.
Kejriwal, who walked out of jail last Friday, will meet Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena at 4.30 pm and tender his resignation along with the proposed name for the chief minister. After Kejriwal sends the proposal to L-G Saxena, he will send it to President Droupadi Murmu for approval. Once the approval comes from President Murmu, Atishi will take oath as the Delhi CM.
Atishi, who currently holds the portfolio of education, finance, law, tourism and several other departments, will be the third woman to hold the post of the Delhi chief minister after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dixit.
Atishi earlier worked closely with Sisodia in the education sector when he was the minister and deputy CM. She also contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from East Delhi against the BJP’s Gautam Gambhir but lost. She then contested from the Kalkaji constituency in Delhi Assembly Elections 2020 and became an MLA for the first time.
Arvind Kejriwal took everyone by surprise on Sunday by announcing that he would resign from the post of chief minister in two days and said he would sit on the CM’s seat again after the people of Delhi give him a “certificate of honesty” in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
Ruling out the possibility for the former deputy chief minister and the AAP’s second in command Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal said until the elections are held, someone else from the party will take his place as CM.
Sisodia said he will also go among the people along with the CM and seek a vote based on honesty and he will not hold any position till the people give him a clean chit.
