New Delhi, Sep 21 Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi will take oath as Chief Minister of Delhi on Saturday, the second current woman position-holder after West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee but will she make a mark like her women predecessors Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit or be a simple stopgap?
Sushma Swaraj lasted just over 50 days in her only stint in 1998, while it was a catapult to a larger position in national politics, while Dikshit spent over 15 years in office in three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013. However, Atishi is only likely to helm the state for a few months as the AAP is already into its fourth year of power. The current second consecutive term of the party is slated to run till February, when elections are due though outgoing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had desired that they be held in November.
Even if the AAP comes back to power with a majority for a third term, Kejriwal is likely to reclaim the top post. While announcing his resignation on last Sunday, he had said that he would return to the CM's chair only if the people gave him a "certificate of honesty", indicating he would stake a claim for the post in the case of a fresh mandate for his party.
"I will not sit in that chair till the people announce their verdict. Elections in Delhi are months away. I got justice from the legal court, now I will get justice from the people's court. I will sit in the Chief Minister's chair only after the order of the people," Kejriwal said at a meeting with party workers, days after he walked out of jail following bail in the CBI case.
CM-designate Atishi had 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, where she said long power cuts take place regularly, will become a norm in the capital too.
Atishi also told the press that Kejriwal will begin a public outreach programme the next Sunday, during which he will meet people and seek their support.
Her cabinet also is largely inherited from Kejriwal - with Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Kailash Gahlot, and Imran Hussain set to retain the ministerial posts and Mukesh Ahlawat the only new face.
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