Delhi gets its 3rd woman CM as Arvind Kejriwal hands over charge to Atishi | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The frontrunner was the chosen one. In an expected turn of events, the MONKEY Legislative party elected finance and education minister on Tuesday Atishi43, as leader, paving the way for her to become the eighth Chief Minister of Delhi.
Outgoing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal later met Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at Raj Niwas along with his council of ministers — Atishi, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain — to tender his resignation.
Chief Minister-designate Atishi subsequently submitted a letter to support her claim to form a government. She will remain at the helm for a maximum of five months in this term if the state assembly elections are held as scheduled in February 2025.
“Atishi is now the one to lead Delhi till the next elections, carrying the weight of both CM Arvind Kejriwal’s vision and the future of the national capital,” AAP said in a statement.
AAP functionaries said that a meeting will be held on September 26 and 27 and the new government under Atishi will prove its majority. This is just a formality, given AAP’s brute majority of 59 legislators in a 70-member House. Three MLAs have resigned from AAP in the past five months.

Atishi quit Raj Niwas and told reporters: “If it was any other CM, he would have immediately taken the CM’s seat after coming out of jail. No one in the world would have taken a decision like Kejriwal ji (resignation).”
“This is an emotional moment for the party and the people of Delhi. At the same time, the people of Delhi have decided to re-elect Arvind Kejriwal as the Prime Minister. Till the elections are held, I will take care of Delhi,” she added.
Atishi will be the second youngest to become CM after Chaudhary Brahm Prakash (1952-55), who was just under 34 when he was sworn in as CM. She will also be the third woman Chief Minister of the capital.
Her name was proposed by Kejriwal during the legislative party meeting held at his camp office on Flag Staff Road. It was unanimously accepted by all the legislators.
Development, Welfare Atishi’s priorities
Kejriwal on Monday held one-on-one talks with members of the AAP’s political affairs committee, including all ministers, to get their views on possible successors.
Kejriwal had announced his decision to resign on Sunday, less than 48 hours after his release from Tihar Jail after he got bail in the excise policy case. He had told party workers that he would sit on the CM’s chair only after getting a “fairness certificate” from the electorate in the upcoming elections. He had barred deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who was also in jail for over 17 months in the same case, from taking over from him. Kejriwal had also urged the Election Commission of India to hold elections in Delhi in November.
Atishi, a debutant MLA from Kalkaji, ventured into electoral politics in 2019 when she unsuccessfully contested the elections against Gautam Gambhir of the BJP. In 2020, she contested the state Assembly elections from Kalkaji and won. She was inducted into the cabinet only after Sisodia and former health minister Saytendar Jain resigned due to their imprisonment in separate cases.
She was initially given six departments, but later increased to thirteen. While Kejriwal, even during his first 49-day term and from 2015 onwards, never held any portfolio for himself, Atishi is likely to retain some departments.
Officials said the LG will forward Kejriwal’s resignation and Atishi’s claim to form the government to the President and the Union Home Ministry. Once the approvals are received, Raj Niwas will invite her to take oath.
Speaking to reporters, AAP’s Delhi coordinator Gopal Rai had earlier announced that Atishi had been nominated as the legislature party’s leader. “During the meeting, it was unanimously decided that till the next elections, which we want to hold in October-November, when people re-nominate Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi CM with an overwhelming majority, Atishi will carry out the responsibilities as the new CM,” Rai said.
He added that Atishi will have two major responsibilities during her stint as CM. “She will ensure that development work in Delhi is not stopped despite the BJP’s opposition and also that all the welfare schemes of the AAP government, such as free electricity, water and pilgrimages for senior citizens, continue,” Rai added.
Party functionaries throughout the day stressed that Atishi as CM was a temporary arrangement and that Kejriwal would take over after the elections (if AAP wins).
Kejriwal did not speak to the media or issue a statement after her resignation. Kejriwal reposted Sisodia’s post on X and wrote, “All the best to Atishi” in Hindi.
In his post on X, Sisodia had written that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hatched a dirty political conspiracy and levelled false allegations against Kejriwal and other AAP functionaries, questioned their integrity, sent them to jail and tried to topple the government.
“Arvind Kejriwal has bravely resigned as CM and announced that he will go to the people. Today, Atishi has been given the responsibility of CM of Delhi till the elections,” Sisodia said on X.