MLA to CM-designate, meteoric rise of Atishi in 4 years
Elected MLA for the first time in 2020, Atishi, 43, is set to assume charge as Delhi’s youngest CM, and only the third woman CM of the city state after BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and Congress’ Sheila Dikshit.
The AAP founder member will also be the second woman CM at present in the country after West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee. A Delhi University alumna, Atishi received her bachelor’s degree in history from St Stephen’s College and topped the batch. A Rhodes scholar, she went on to study postgraduation in education and history from the University of Oxford, and returned home to work for seven years with community-building organisations in Madhya Pradesh.
It was through these NGO circles that Atishi first touched base with AAP workers and went on to join the party as a founder member.
In 2019, she contested her first election — Lok Sabha from East Delhi — which she lost. But she became active in AAP circles as a prominent voice defending party policies. A long-time adviser to former deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the Education Ministry, Atishi also enjoyed the confidence of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who again fielded her in the 2020 Assembly poll.
This time, she won from Kalkaji segment, registering her first electoral win and defeating her BJP rival by over 11,000 votes. That said, Atishi still remained a quintessential party person, speaking for Kejriwal’s policies as an AAP spokesperson. A sudden twist of fate, however, brought her to the centre stage, when in March last she was inducted into the Kejriwal Cabinet after top ministers Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia were arrested in the excise scam.
As of now, she holds 14 portfolios — the highest in the AAP Cabinet in Delhi — and is the lone woman minister.
After Kejriwal’s arrest in March this year, Atishi became the face of the party and the government. So much so, that Kejriwal wanted her to unfurl the Tricolour on his behalf, though LG VK Saxena chose Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot instead.
The AAP chief, however, made sure to reward his protege the moment he got a chance. And that chance came on Sunday when he announced his decision to resign, signalling her imminent elevation as CM.
