New Delhi: Atishi Marlena, a close of aide of Arvind Kejriwal, has been named as the new Chief Minister of Delhi as Kejriwal is set to step down from the post later today. Atishi, who holds the Education Ministry, will be the third women Delhi CM and eighth CM of the national capital. The party unanimously agreed after Arvind Kejriwal proposed her name as his successor in a meeting of the party's legislators on Tuesday.
Reacting to her appointment, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dubbed Atishi as a 'puppet CM of Delhi'. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva claimed Kejriwal had appointed Atishi to the post 'unwillingly' under pressure from Manish Sisodia and the move has exposed the "corrupt character" of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
"Arvind Kejriwal made her the CM unwillingly. He could not make the CM he wanted because of pressure from Manish Sisodia. She was also given all the departments because of Manish Sisodia. Atishi has been made the CM under his pressure. The face has changed but the corrupt character is as it is and the people of Delhi will ask for answers," Sachdeva told news agency ANI.
Echoing the statement, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said Kejriwal wants to make a puppet as the CM of Delhi, and he chose a leader who was weaker than him because he had no confidence in his party. Bhandari also said the public in Delhi is suffering because of an "internal power struggle" in AAP and the upcoming Assembly elections will be between the public versus AAP.
"AAP government supports a person who's family tried to stop Afzal Guru's hanging. The people of Delhi will never accept Naxal supporters. AAP wants to show that it treats women as dummies and puppets as Saurabh Bharadwaj had been saying that the new CM would be a puppet CM... The people of Delhi will give a befitting reply to this," said the BJP spokesperson.
This major announcement came after being released from Tihar jail on bail in the excise policy case, the AAP national convenor said on Sunday that he would resign within 48 hours and sought early polls in Delhi. He vowed not to sit in the chief minister's chair till people gave him a "certificate of honesty". AAP had earlier said Kejriwal sought time for a meeting with the lieutenant governor on Tuesday and was likely to tender his resignation.
Atishi, 43, contested in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election from the Kalkaji constituency of South Delhi, where she defeated BJP's Dharambir Singh by 11,422 votes. She was inducted into the Delhi Government as a Cabinet Minister, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj after the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyender Jain.
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