Senior AAP leader Atishi was on Saturday administered the oath as the youngest and third woman Chief Minister of Delhi by Lt Governor VK Saxena. She replaced Arvind Kejriwal, who demitted office to concentrate on politics ahead of elections in the national capital due early next year.

Along with Atishi, new Council of Ministers, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat were also sworn in at the ceremony at the Raj Niwas here. While Bharadwaj, Rai, Gahlot and Hussain were already ministers in the Kejriwal government, Sultanpur Majra MLA Ahlawat is a new entrant from the OBC community.

“It is an emotional moment for me as he (Arvind Kejriwal) will not be the Chief Minister. He understood the pain of every person. He ensured free treatment for people, worked to improve the lives of the students of government schools, brought the provision of free bus rides for women,” Atishi, the Kalkaji MLA, said.

“I assure you that since Kejriwal has come out of jail now, we will not let any conspiracy of the BJP succeed,” the CM stated.

A close confidant of Kejriwal whom she has described earlier as “Guru”, Atishi will have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.

Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other party leaders were present at the swearing in ceremony. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, BJP MPs, including Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra, and Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora also attended the ceremony.

Kejriwal, out on bail in the Delhi excise policy case, had to quit because governance was suffering. He was barred from doing office work while in Tihar jail and outside on bail.

The AAP convenor is also trying to emerge politically from multiple corruption charges he is facing ahead of the polls, and that is why he is trying to retrieve his Aam Aadmi image.

Party sources said Atishi, who was chosen to lead the Delhi government from other contenders like Bharadwaj and Gahlot, is also adept at street politics, much like Kejriwal.

One of the first decisions of Atishi government would be to implement Kejriwal’s promise to provide ₹1,000 honorarium to eligible women in Delhi under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana.

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