BJP on Atishi becoming next Delhi Chief Minister: Corruption will still remain

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi was named as the new Chief Minister of Delhi on Tuesday. This comes following Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement to resign as the chief minister on Sunday after being granted interim bail for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case. The official announcement was made by Delhi minister Gopal Rai.
Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Virendraa Sachdeva reacted to the development, saying that Atishi had been announced as the chief minister after pressure from former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
“Arvind Kejriwal made her the CM unwillingly. He could not get the CM he wanted because of pressure from Manish Sisodia. She was also given all the departments because of Manish Sisodia. Atishi has been made the CM under his pressure. The face has changed, but the corrupt character is as it is and the people of Delhi will ask for answers,” Sachdeva said.
Meanwhile, BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that Arvind Kejriwal has no “confidence” in his party and wants to make someone who is “weaker” than him the chief minister.
“Arvind Kejriwal wants to make a puppet/temporary person the chief minister of Delhi. He has no confidence in his party. That’s why he wants to make someone the chief minister who is weaker than him in the party. There is an internal power struggle in AAP…The public of Delhi is suffering due to this internal power struggle.

Taking a jibe at AAP over the announcement, the Delhi unit of BJP shared a poster on X, showing Arvind Kejriwal controlling Atishi with strings, insinuating that he would run the Delhi government through her.

“Puppet CM of Delhi,” the party captioned the X post.

“Previously, inspired by Marx and Lenin, Atishi had named herself ‘Marleena’ but later removed this surname from her name,” said BJP leader Kapil Mishra.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also reacted to the news and said that activist Anna Hazare should be blamed for “giving birth” to Arvind Kejriwal.
“I would blame Anna Hazare…he gave birth to Arvind Kejriwal, because of which the people of Delhi are suffering. He has ruined Delhi after winning the elections by telling lies. The family members of Atishi supported Afzal Guru and even criticized the Supreme Court,” he said.
Notably, several other AAP leaders were in the fray to succeed Kejriwal, including Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai. Atishi was elevated to the position of cabinet minister in the Delhi government after Satyender Jain and Manish Sisodia tendered their resignations last year. She, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj, were made Delhi ministers, but Atishi was given charge of 14 departments, including education, finance, planning, PWD, water, power and public relations.

Gopal Rai stated that Arvind Kejriwal would resign at 4.30 pm, following which Atishi would stake claim to form her government.