Atishi set to take oath as Delhi Chief Minister on Saturday

Four present Ministers will retain their berths while Dalit MLA Mukesh Ahlawat will be a new face in the Cabinet

New Delhi: AAP leader Atishi is set to take oath as Delhi’s sixth Chief Minister on Saturday. Lt Governor VK Saxena is slated to administer the oath to Atishi and her Council of Ministers at the Raj Niwas at 4.30 pm.

Four present Ministers — Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bhardwaj, and Imran Hussain — will retain their berths while Dalit MLA Mukesh Ahlawat will be a new face in the Cabinet.

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One Ministerial post will still be vacant. Atish will be Delhi’s third woman CM — after Sushma Swaraj of the BJP and Sheila Dikshit of Congress. The Kalkaji legislator, who held multiple portfolios in the Arvind Kejriwal government, was chosen as the next leader of the legislative party on Tuesday morning — two days after Kejriwal announced his intention to resign.

Though released from jail after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case in the liquor policy matter, Kejriwal faced restrictions on his functioning, including being barred from visiting his office or the secretariat or signing files unless urgent for the clearance of the Lt Governor.

On Tuesday evening, Atishi accompanied Kejriwal to meet the Lt Governor at the Raj Niwas, where he submitted his resignation and she staked her claim to form the government. The Lt Governor subsequently proposed September 21 as the swearing-in date.

The AAP leader will prove her government’s majority in the 70-member Assembly in a special session called on September 26-27. The ruling AAP in Delhi is already into its fourth year of power, and Atishi will lead the government for the remaining term that is slated to run till February, when elections are due.

With Kejriwal vowing that he will return to the post if the people deem him honest in the next polls, CM-designate Atishi on Friday expressed support for him, claiming that only his leadership can enable a “better life and promising future” for Delhiites by ensuring free electricity and water.

She further said that it’s important that the people of Delhi again elect Kejriwal as their leader and make him the Chief Minister again, otherwise “what is happening in Uttar Pradesh will become a norm in the capital too”. Atishi also told the press that Kejriwal will begin a public outreach programme from next Sunday, during which he will meet people and seek their support.