Delhi AAP leader Atishi Marlena.
Credit: DH Photo
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday chose Delhi minister Atishi to succeed party national convener Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi's new chief minister -- the third woman to assume the chair in the capital after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit -- with the party saying she will remain in the post 'till the next Assembly election'.
AAP will present the resolution of its Legislature Party, choosing the 43-year-old Oxford alumni as its leader to Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena soon after Kejriwal submits his resignation as chief minister.
She was chosen as the leader of AAP Legislature Party after Kejriwal proposed her name as his successor at a meeting of AAP MLAs, who unanimously agreed to it. AAP sources said a session of Delhi Assembly is likely to be convened on September 26-27.
Atishi, who dropped her surname Marlena in 2018, thanked Kejriwal as 'my big brother, my guru' for choosing her to succeed him but said she is 'sad' that the 'most popular Delhi Chief Minister is resigning' from the post and no one should congratulate her or garland her.
Her ascension to the Chief Minister's post would not have happened if she was in some other party, she said, adding she was happy that Kejriwal showed faith in her abilities.
"We have to make Kejriwal the Chief Minister again. Till I am the Chief Minister, I have only one aim, to save Delhiites from the machinations of the BJP, which has been conspiring against Kejriwal for the past two years. They will conspire with the L-G to stop free power, free medicines, shut mohalla clinics, harm schools. My assignment for the next few months is to prevent this from happening," she said.
Announcing the Legislature Party's decision, senior Minister and Delhi AAP Convenor Gopal Rai told reporters that Atishi has been chosen as the next Chief Minister 'till the next Assembly elections'.
He said the Legislature party has given the two tasks -- to ensure that no work is stopped due to obstacles put by the BJP and lead the protest against the saffron party.
The decision on the new cabinet will be taken by the party later on, Rai said.
After Kejriwal was arrested in March this year, Atishi had emerged as the face of the government. On Sunday, Kejriwal had announced that he would resign from the post in two days and would reclaim the chair only after he gets a 'certificate of honesty' from people. DH had on Sunday reported that Atishi was the front runner for the post of Chief Minister after Kejriwal's surprise announcement.
Her choice did not come as a surprise as she was holding the highest number of ministries and departments under Kejriwal. He had also chosen her as the minister to unfurl the tricolour on Independence Day while he was in jail but the L-G assigned the job to her ministerial colleague Kailash Gahlot.
Though she does not project her caste credentials, it appears that the AAP chief also sought to factor in that she is from a family of Punjabi Hindus, who are a dominant voting group in the capital. She belongs to the Rajput community.