New Delhi: Will Atishi, like her BJP and Congress predecessors, leave a significant and lasting impact on Delhi’s governance, or will her tenure be a mere stopgap?
Many are wondering as Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi prepares to take the oath as Chief Minister of Delhi on Saturday.
With donning of the mantle, she will also become the second woman to hold the position after West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee.
But will she leave an indelible mark like Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit?
Although Sushma Swaraj lasted just over 50 days in her only stint in 1998, it catapulted her to a more prominent position in national politics.
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 party’s current second consecutive term is slated to run until February, when elections are due, though outgoing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had desired that they be held in November.
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Even if the AAP returns to power with a majority for a third term, Kejriwal will likely reclaim the top post. While announcing his resignation last Sunday, he 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, in a show of unwavering support, endorsed Kejriwal’s leadership, asserting that it is under his guidance that Delhiites can look forward to a ‘better life and promising future’, marked by 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; 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 next Sunday, during which he will meet people and seek their support.
Her cabinet is also 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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–IANS
