Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi will take oath as the third woman Chief Minister of Delhi on Saturday. New members of the Cabinet will also take oath with her.
Atishi, the leader of AAP's legislative party, was elevated to take the CM's chair by Arvind Kejriwal at a meeting on Tuesday. Along with her, two new members are likely to take oath as ministers in her Cabinet.
AAP sources said that Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena sent Arvind Kejriwal's resignation to President Droupadi Murmu. The AAP also proposed September 21 as the date for Atishi's swearing-in.
Atishi held 13 departments in the Kejriwal government, including education, finance, revenue, PWD, and power.
Who Could Be The New Ministers In Atishi Cabinet?
The Delhi Cabinet currently has seven members, including the Chief Minister. The tenure of the new Chief Minister and the two new members of the cabinet will be short, as the Delhi Assembly elections are due in February next year. Before that, the Model Code of Conduct will kick in. So there will be very little time for the new faces, if any, to implement any change.
With the Delhi Assembly election approaching fast, Atishi is unlikely to experiment too much. However, the responsibilities of Atishi and Raaj Kumar Anand, who earlier switched to the BJP, will have to be handed over. For that, the names of MLAs Vishal Ravi, Kuldeep Kumar, Jarnail Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Somnath Bharti, and Sanjeev Jha are doing the rounds.
However, it is still not clear whether the portfolios will be handed to new members or redistributed among the current ministers.
According to reports, Atishi, an AAP MLA from Kalkaji, will prove the majority of her government in the 70-member Delhi Assembly after taking over as CM. The AAP government has convened a special assembly session on September 26-27. The term of the Assembly will end on February 23 next year.