2 days Ago By Nivriti Mohan
With Kejriwal resigning and AAP appointing Atishi as the CM, it is a woman at the helm of affairs in the Capital. With AAP announcing Atishi as Delhi Chief Minister, speculation is rife that the BJP may field Smriti Irani as BJP’s CM candidate in the Delhi Assembly elections. Would it be woman power leading the Delhi Assembly Election? With Arvind Kejriwal resigning as the Chief Minister of Delhi and the Aam Aadmi Party appointing Atishi as the CM, it is a woman at the helm of affairs in the Capital.
This happens just a few months before the Delhi Assembly elections slated for February 2025. On the flip side, speculation is rife that the BJP may field Smriti Irani as its Chief Ministerial Candidate from Delhi. It is the growing involvement of former Amethi MP Smriti Irani in Delhi’s political activities that has created a buzz.
Will it be Smriti Vs Atishi in the Delhi elections? News9 Plus Decodes Smriti Irani’s name is doing rounds as the BJP’s probable Chief Ministerial candidate. While Atishi is being dubbed as just a dummy Chief Minister, it is most unlikely she would be AAP’s chief ministerial candidate. Kejriwal has announced he will become CM only if his party is re-elected during the Delhi Assembly elections.
Let’s put it this way: If AAP wins the Delhi elections, Kejriwal will be the Chief Minister. So, it won’t be Smriti Vs Atishi directly unless they contest from the same constituency. Was Atishi’s appointment and Kejriwal’s resignation a surprise decision? Even before the formal declaration, Atishi’s name was doing the rounds.
It is quite possible that this move was being planned even before Arvind Kejriwal’s release on bail. Kejriwal had recommended Atishi’s name to unfurl the tricolour on Independence Day. He had written to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi regarding this.
On the other hand, the conditions imposed on Kejriwal need to be considered. Two of the conditions in the bail order say he shall neither visit the office of the Chief Minister nor the Delhi Secretariat. Also, he can’t sign official files “unless it is required and necessary for obtaining clearance/approval of the Lieutenant Governor”.
So, is Atishi’s appointment an attempt for political mileage by Kejriwal? Will the BJP make Smriti its chief ministerial face? In 2020 the BJP went in Delhi Assembly elections without a CM face. This resulted in the BJP getting just 8 out of 70 seats. However, in the 2015 assembly elections, Kiran Bedi was its Chief Ministerial candidate.
This did not fetch good results either. Bedi lost her Krishna Nagar seat. So opinion is divided on whether the BJP should declare a CM face before the elections.
Smriti Irani is definitely one of the names doing the rounds along with Manoj Tiwari, Virendra Sachdeva, Vijendra Gupta, and Bansuri Swaraj. Was Atishi always a favourite to be CM? Atishi was seen as close to Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav who were expelled from AAP in 2015. Since then Atishi was removed from the list of AAP spokespersons.
She however managed to be in the Kejriwal camp by praising him publicly and becoming Manish Sisodia’s advisor in the Education Department. When the advisor’s post was done away with, Atishi, however, remained an active AAP leader. In 2019 she was fielded in the Lok Sabha elections against Gautam Gambhir from the East Delhi constituency and she lost.
However, she won in the assembly elections later from Kalkaji. She then rose through the party ranks slowly and went on to have the highest number of government departments after the arrest of Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case. Is this a boost for women chief ministers in India? Yes, the number of incumbent women chief ministers doubles from one to two.
At present, only Mamata Banerjee is the Bengal CM. But in 2016, woman power was ruling with five chief ministers: J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Mehbooba Mufti in J&K, Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, and Anandiben Patel in Gujarat. Delhi itself had two women chief ministers — Sheila Dikshit and Sushma Swaraj.
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