New Delhi: AAP leader Atishi Tuesday thanked her "guru" Arvind Kejriwal on being given the "big responsibility" of succeeding him as the chief minister of Delhi and said she would work under his "guidance" to protect people's interests from the BJP's obstructions.
She would be the third woman chief minister of Delhi after Congress' Sheila Dikshit and BJP's Sushma Swaraj.
Hours after being unanimously chosen to become the chief minister of Delhi, she said it was a moment mixed with joy as well as "extreme sadness" as Kejirwal, the popular CM, is going to resign.
Kejriwal proposed Atishi's name in the legislative party meeting at his residence and was unanimously supported by AAP MLAs.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Atishi said that for the next few months, she would work to ensure that Kejriwal returns as chief minister after the Delhi Assembly elections.
The polls in Delhi are due in February next year but Kejriwal has demanded that the assembly election in the national capital be held in November with Maharashtra.
The AAP national convener, who was released from Tihar jail on bail in the excise policy scam case last Friday, announced on Sunday that he would resign as Delhi chief minister after two days and vowed not to sit in CM's chair till people gave him a "certificate of honesty".
"It's a moment of extreme sadness for me and the people that the popular chief minister of Delhi is stepping down," Atishi said on Tuesday, urging party leaders and workers not to congratulate and garland her.
Atishi who currently holds multiple portfolios in the Delhi government, thanked her "guru" Kejriwal for showing confidence in her and giving her the "big responsibility" of being the new chief minister.
"It's possible only in the Aam Aadmi Party and under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal that a first-time politician has become a chief minister. I come from an ordinary family and perhaps would not get even a poll ticket if I were in any other party," she said.
Atishi said Kejriwal trusted her and made her an MLA, then a minister and now the chief minister of Delhi.
Asserting that Kejriwal is the "only chief minister" in Delhi, she alleged the BJP harassed him and hatched conspiracies against him in the last two years, levelled corruption charges against him, got a "false" case registered and kept him in jail for six months.
Lauding the AAP supremo, Atishi said Kejriwal, by deciding not to sit on chief minister's chair till declared honest by the people, has done something that no other leader, not just in the country but also in the world, could do.
"There would not be any other example of such sacrifice in the history of the country's democracy," she claimed.
The people of Delhi are angry with the BJP's "conspiracy" and want to make Kejriwal chief minister again, Atishi said. "They know if an honest person is not Delhi's chief minister, free electricity, education, health services, bus ride for women, pilgrimage for elderly and mohalla clinics would be shut down." She alleged the BJP, "through the L-G", would try to obstruct free services such as electricity, free medicines at hospitals, the mohalla clinics and "ruin" government schools.
"For the next few months, as long as I have this responsibility, I will try to protect the people of Delhi and run the government under the guidance of Arvind Kejriwal," she said and exuded confidence that the people would soon have Kejriwal back as their chief minister after the elections.