Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi was sworn in as Delhi Chief Minister on Saturday at 4:30 pm. The oath taking ceremony happened at Raj Bhavan, the official residence of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. Apart from Atishi, five other AAP MLAs were also sworn in as ministers. AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and party leader Manish Sisodia were present for the oath ceremony.
On Friday night, the President appointed Atishi as Chief Minister, effective from the date of her swearing-in. The President also accepted Kejriwal’s resignation and approved the appointment of five ministers.
Atishi is the third woman CM of Delhi, after Sushma Swaraj of the BJP and Sheila Dixit of the Congress. She is also the youngest Delhi CM.
Atishi replaces Kejriwal, the party’s convenor, who resigned after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the liquor policy scam case, in which several other party leaders were arrested and jailed, including Kejriwal’s former deputy, Manish Sisodia, and MP Sanjay Singh. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March and the Central Bureau of Investigation in June on charges of money laundering and corruption related to the liquor policy scam.
Last week, while granting bail to Kejriwal in the ED case – bail in the CBI case was granted in July – the Supreme Court noted that his “prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty”.
Upon his release, Kejriwal said: “I got justice from the legal courts… now I will get justice from the people’s court. I want to ask the people of Delhi, is Kejriwal innocent or guilty? If I have worked, vote for me.”
His bail conditions bar him from signing official files or government orders without the consent of the Lieutenant Governor, with whom the AAP has had several confrontations.
BJP Reacts:
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said, “We welcome her as a woman Chief Minister but she hasn’t done any work except corruption. Their MLAs, leaders aren’t happy within the party. Yes, we want Kejriwal should actually go and meet people of Delhi and apologise for what he and his government has done.”
