Atishi takes oath as Delhi CM,five ministers also sworn in

 

 

 

SENIOR AAP leader Atishi was administered oath as the eighth Chief Minister of Delhi by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Saturday. Saxena administered the oath of office and secrecy to Atishi who is now Delhi’s third woman Chief Minister after Congress’ Sheila Dikshit and BJP’s Sushma Swaraj. Among her new Council of Ministers, Saurabh Bharadwaj was the first to take oath followed by Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat, a new entrant in the Delhi Cabinet. Atishi, however, will have a brief tenure in office as Assembly elections in the national capital are due in February. The swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Niwas here, which was a low-key affair, was attended by Atishi’s predecessor and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and other party leaders and MLAs. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, BJP MPs, including Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra, and Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora also attended the ceremony. South Delhi BJP MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that the Atishi Government should fulfill the promises madeby theAAPtothepublic.

 

“The new Government shouldgive relieftothepublicbyreducingelectricityand water bills; property tax should be waived in Delhi rural. Apart from this, the Central Government’s Ayushman Bharat scheme should be implemented in Delhi,” Bidhuri said. The new Delhi Cabinet headed by Atishi has a long list of pending projects, schemes andnewinitiatives to be launched in the next fewmonths. Shewillhave 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 sloweddownformonthsdue to the imprisonment of Kejriwal.

 

Due to the five-monthlong judicial custody of Kejriwal in the excise policy case, the AAP Government had been struggling to address issues related to basic services and infrastructure thatincluderoads, water supply andsewer, and medicines owing to alleged fund crunch. ATISHI URGES DELHIITES TO MAKE KEJRIWAL CM AGAIN: IN HER first remarks after takingoath,DelhiChiefMinister Atishi hit out at the BJP on Saturdayforhatchinga“conspiracy” against her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal and urged the people ofthe capital to ensure that the AAP national convenor returns to the top post again aftertheAssembly polls due early next year.