CM-designate Atishi, 5 ministers to take oath today

New Delhi
Delhi chief minister-designate Atishi and five Cabinet ministers will take the oath of office at a ceremony at Raj Niwas on Saturday, officials of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said, after the President accepted the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal, paving the way for Atishi to take charge.
“The proposal of CM designate and AAP to appoint five ministers was sent to the LG office on Thursday, and the same day, the LG forwarded it to the President. The ministers may also be administered oath on Saturday,” an official aware of the matter said.
An AAP leader said the function is expected to start at 4.30pm, with lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena expected to administer the oath to Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and new inductee Mukesh Ahlawat, who may effectively take over the portfolios previously allotted to Raaj Kumar Anand.
“It is likely that the ministers of the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet who have been inducted into the new cabinet will be mostly handling the departments that they were (previously) handling. The distribution of portfolios will be done by the new CM after she takes (oath) along with her cabinet colleagues,” said an AAP leader, not wanting to be named.
On September 17, Atishi was picked as the leader of the AAP legislative party, two days after Arvind Kejriwal announced his intention to resign from office. On the same day of Atishi’s elevation, Kejriwal submitted his resignation to the LG and within minutes, CM-elect Atishi staked her claim to form the next government.
Atishi will become the third female CM of Delhi, following in the footsteps of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Sushma Swaraj and Congress’s Sheila Dikshit. She will be only the second sitting female CM in the country, alongside Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal.
After taking oath as the chief minister, the new government will prove its majority on the floor of the Delhi assembly in its session on September 26, Atishi told HT during an interaction on Friday.
The AAP leader cited above said government departments will be divided among the ministers and Atishi is likely to keep some key portfolios. As a minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government, Atishi handled finance, Public Works Department, power, revenue, planning, services, vigilance, water and public relations, among others.
It was, however, unclear if Atishi would be retaining the portfolios or delegating a few to other ministers. She did not offer an answer to HT’s queries in this regard.
In the last cabinet, Saurabh Bharadwaj handled health, industry, urban development and tourism-art-culture; Kailash Gahlot handled transport, home, information technology and administrative reforms; Gopal Rai handled environment, development and general administration; and Imran Hussain handled food and civil supplies, and elections portfolios.
The new cabinet is set to take charge just months ahead of the assembly elections, which are likely in February 2025. The new government will have the huge responsibility of delivering on pending plans and projects of the AAP government. Following Kejriwal’s arrest in March 2024, several projects and plans of the Delhi government were delayed and are currently pending.
The AAP government’s plan to provide ₹1,000 per month financial assistance to all women residents — who meet certain income conditions — was unveiled in March, but is yet to take off as it required cabinet approval. The cabinet has not met since Kejriwal’s incarceration.
Similarly, the Delhi government’s electric vehicle (EV) policy expired in July, and a new EV policy is yet to be cleared by the cabinet. The ambitious doorstep delivery of services scheme of the government is currently non-operational because its term expired in March. The start-up policy and food truck policy are pending, and so are projects, such as redevelopment of markets, business and commerce promotion by holding shopping festivals and infrastructure revamp, among others.
The approval of such projects months before the elections will be a big shot in the arm for the AAP, a senior former bureaucrat said.
The Delhi assembly has 70 members and the cabinet can have a maximum of seven ministers, including the chief minister.