Arvind Kejriwal's successor Atishi set to be youngest Delhi CM
New Delhi/IBNS: Top Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi is on Saturday set to take oath as the new Delhi Chief Minister becoming the youngest to assume the charge of the city state.
Atishi, who will succeed her party head Arvind Kejriwal, will take oath at 4:30 pm.
The 43-year-old, who presently holds the portfolios of Education, Women and Child Welfare, Culture, Tourism and Public Works Development, will become the third woman Chief Minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit.
Atishi will take oath along with five other ministers, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Imran Hussain, Kailash Gahlot and Mukesh Ahlawat.
Apart from Mukesh Ahlawat, the rest four were the ministers in the AAP government headed by Kejriwal, who dramatically stepped down as the Chief Minister after he secured a bail in the excise policy case and walked out of Delhi's Tihar jail.
आज दिल्ली के 2 करोड़ लोग बहुत दुखी हैं कि उनके लोकप्रिय मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल जी ने इस्तीफ़ा दे दिया है। आज से दिल्ली के लोग, आम आदमी पार्टी के विधायक और मैं - सब एक ही उद्देश्य से काम करेंगे - कि अरविंद केजरीवाल जी को फिर से मुख्यमंत्री बनाना है… pic.twitter.com/jTJtOzSCAq
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) September 17, 2024
As a Chief Minister, Kerjiwal was barred by the Supreme Court from signing any document and entering into his office.
He demanded the polls in Delhi, which are scheduled to be held in February, should be hosted in November along with elections in Maharashtra.
"I am here to ask people whether they consider Kejriwal to be guilty or innocent?" he said.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said the political outfit put him behind bars since it was scared of his performance. "The only thing I have is honesty," he said.
The Supreme Court last week granted bail to Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the excise policy case.
Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI in June when he was already in Tihar Jail in connection with the same case.
The AAP supremo has been in jail since March 21 when he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate over money laundering allegations while framing the Delhi liquor policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped after the Lieutenant Governor raised red flags.
He was arrested by the CBI on June 26.
The ED has alleged the money Kejriwal got from the liquor sellers was used to fund the party's campaign in Goa since he is the convenor of the AAP.