New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI): Chief Minister-designate Atishi will be sworn in along with her new Council of Ministers during a ceremony at the Raj Niwas on Saturday afternoon that will see AAP form the government in Delhi for the fourth time in a row.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi will take the oath of office at 4.30 pm, officials have said.
The new Council of Ministers announced by the party comprises Sultanpur Majra MLA Mukesh Ahlawat, a new entrant, besides ministers Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Imran Hussain.
Atishi will be the 17th female chief minister of the country.
The officials at the lieutenant governor’s office on Friday evening said President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Atishi as the chief minister of Delhi from the date of her being sworn in and has also accepted Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.
The President has also cleared the appointment of five ministers, they added.
According to an AAP leader, the ceremony will be a low-key affair as the mood in the party is not upbeat because of Kejriwal’s resignation and also the delays in approvals, leaving little time for preparations.
AAP MLAs met earlier this week and unanimously chose Atishi as the leader of the ruling legislature party.
The party’s national convener Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar jail on September 13, after more than five months behind bars in an excise policy case.
In a surprise announcement two days later, Kejriwal said he would resign from the post of the chief minister of Delhi in the wake of the BJP’s “mudslinging” against him over corruption.
Kejriwal also announced that he would return to the post only after getting a “certificate of honesty” from Delhi people in the assembly polls.
The tenure of the Atishi government will be brief as the assembly polls in Delhi are due in February next year.
Her government will have to fast-track and give nod to various pending policies and welfare schemes such as the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, Electric Vehicle Policy 2.0 and doorstep delivery of services among others.
In the outgoing Kejriwal government, Atishi held 13 portfolios, including finance, revenue, PWD, power and education.
Rai was in charge of the environment, development and general administration departments, while Bharadwaj looked after the health, tourism and urban development departments among others.
Gahlot held the responsibility of transport, home and women and child development departments, while Hussain was the minister for food and supplies.
AAP sources said the four ministers retained in the new Cabinet are likely to hold their previous portfolios while Ahlawat could be allotted those lying vacant following the resignation of minister Raaj Kumar Anand in April this year.
