Arvind Kejriwal is now the former chief minister of Delhi after tendered his resignation on Tuesday after the Aam Aadmi Party brass elected Atishi to take over the top post.
After Kejriwal officially resigned as the chief minister of the national capital at the Lieutenant Governor Secretariat, Atishi handed over the letter of support of AAP MLAs to LG VK Saxena following which she staked claim to form the government.
With this, Atishi has become the third woman chief minister of Delhi and the second woman chief minister in India after Mamata Banerjee.
An Oxford University graduate, Atishi said that she will “take care of Delhi for a few months before Arvind Kejriwal is voted back to power again.” Assembly elections in Delhi will be held next year. It would be a litmus test for AAP, which sprung a surprise move with Kejriwal’s resignation.
The development came after Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week. His bail however was rife with conditions that did not allow him to visit the chief minister’s office or sign any files. Calls for his resignation grew with the BJP raising doubts over his functionality as Delhi’s CM.
The decision to finally elect Atishi for the post came after much deliberation within party lines. On Monday, AAP held a series of meetings as Kejriwal sought feedback from members of the political affairs committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, on his successor in one-on-one meetings at his official residence.
Atishi’s name was being considered along with others including Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Sunita Kejriwal.
The news of Atishi becoming the next chief minister of Delhi received mixed reactions with Congress congratulating the leader and pinning “hope” on her to drive the national capital towards development.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party has its own reservations about AAP’s pick as many leaders claim that she will be the new “puppet CM of Delhi.”
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