New Delhi: AAP leader Atishi on Saturday took oath as the eighth chief minister of Delhi at a low-key swearing-in ceremony at Raj Niwas. Delhi lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena administered the oath of office and secrecy to Ms Atishi, who is now Delhi's third woman CM after Congress' Sheila Dikshit and BJP's Sushma Swaraj. Five Cabinet ministers were also sworn in at the ceremony.
Among her new council of ministers, Saurabh Bharadwaj was the first to take the oath, followed by Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and first-time MLA Mukesh Ahlawat.
Besides the Delhi chief minister's portfolio, Ms Atishi will be in-charge of her previous 13 departments, including education, revenue, finance, power and the public works departments.
Mr Rai, who is among the four ministers retained in the Cabinet, will continue to hold the environment, forest and wildlife, development and general administration portfolios that he headed in the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Mr Bharadwaj, another senior leader retained in the Cabinet, will also continue to helm the health, tourism, irrigation and flood control, industries, urban development and art, culture and language departments. He will additionally handle the social welfare and cooperative departments.
Mr Ahlawat, MLA from the Sultanpur Majra seat, has been given the charge of the labour, employment, gurdwara elections, SC/ST welfare and land and building departments. The sole Muslim member in the Cabinet, Mr Hussain, will keep his food and supply and election portfolios.
Mr Gahlot will hold the transport, home, administrative reforms, information and technology and women and child development portfolios.
In her first remarks after taking the oath, Ms Atishi hit out at the BJP for hatching a "conspiracy" against Mr Kejriwal and urged the Delhi people to ensure that the AAP national convenor returns to the top post again after the Assembly polls due early next year.
Briefing the media, the chief minister said, “It is an emotional moment for me as he (Mr 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 and brought the provision of free bus rides for women.”
Prior to her swearing-in ceremony, Ms Atishi, accompanied by the party leaders and her Cabinet colleagues, met the party supremo and her predecessor at his Civil Lines residence.
The swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Niwas was attended by Mr Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, along with other party leaders and MLAs. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta, BJP MPs, including Union minister of state Harsh Malhotra and Delhi police commissioner Sanjay Arora also attended the ceremony.
Ms Atishi, however, will have a brief tenure in the office as Assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.
The new Cabinet headed by Atishi has a long list of pending projects, schemes and new initiatives to be launched in the next few months. The chief minister will have to hit the ground running to accelerate the city government's functioning and ensure that the flagship projects and schemes are back on track after being slowed down for months due to the imprisonment of Mr Kejriwal.
