Arvind Kejriwal, who allegedly dropped the key contenders from his priority list has given a mega jackpot to Atishi Singh aka Atishi Marlena. Within a span of four years, Atishi has managed to tap into different positions – an MLA, a minister and now the Chief Minister of Delhi. She is all set to be the third woman CM of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dixit though has been labelled as an ‘accidental Chief Minister’ unlike the former two. The opposition has also addressed her as a dummy CM and she has said that she will hold this position only for a few months until the Delhi assembly elections take place. But how did Atishi Singh take this leap in a mere four years?
#WATCH | Delhi: Atishi addresses the media for the first time after being elected as the leader of Delhi AAP legislative party and the new CM.
She says, “People of Delhi, AAP MLAs and I – as the CM for a few months till elections, will work with just one goal. We have to make… pic.twitter.com/g9ft8xm4E1
— ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2024
Delving deep into decades
A concrete team of ‘revolutionaries’ under the leadership of Anna Hazare stood up asking for the Jan Lokpal Bill in 2010. This team led a movement called ‘India Against Corruption’. It was a period when the Congress party was being hit left, right and centre for corruption charges – the 2G scam, Commonwealth scam, Coalgate scam and many more.
The revolution stemmed into a political party that was strongly discouraged by Anna Hazare and that’s when Arvind Kejriwal took a different path after forming the Aam Aadmi Party. The top leaders of this newly-formed party were – Arvind Kejriwal himself, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Yogendra Yadav, Gopal Rai, Somnath Bharti and Kumar Vishwas.
If one looks back at this list, it is evident that many leaders who were strong contenders in the party are no longer connected to it. Examples are – Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and if one may add Kumar Vishwas too.
Commoner to crown winner
Notably, Atishi Marlena aka Atishi Singh was no big name until 2019. Though she was an active party member, she was associated as an advisor to Manish Sisodia when he held the education ministry. Marlena was appointed the Lok Sabha in charge of East Delhi in the 2019 general elections. It was the first big responsibility she bagged after coming into the limelight. However, she was badly defeated by the BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir who won over her by a massive margin of 4.77 lakh votes. She could manage to be in the third position in the constituency.
The first victory that Atishi Singh tasted was in the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections when she contested from the Kalkaji constituency and won over the BJP candidate by 11,422 votes. Her political career bloomed only after Manish Sisodia was imprisoned and she took his portfolio. She was inducted as a cabinet minister after the resignation of the then-deputy CM of Delhi.
Atishi Singh: Kavach for the party
Atishi Singh stood as a shield for the party after resuming her position as a cabinet minister. Be it the case of money laundering or the liquor policy scam or the harassment case filed by Swati Maliwal, Atishi was the one who faced everything. She erupted as the face of the political party after Arvind Kejriwal was taken into custody by the ED and then by the CBI.
Eye-opener for Arvind Kejriwal
Atishi held a number of press conferences in all such turbulences the party faced. She spoke for Arvind Kejriwal, for the party, and left no stone unturned to hit out at the BJP. The two incidences must have been an eye-opener for the AAP chief – the distancing of the so-called closest Raghav Chadha after Kejriwal’s arrest and AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s different view on Swati Maliwal’s case than that of the party. It was Atishi Singh who stood strong with the party against all the odds and avalanches.
Also read: Atishi To Be Delhi’s New Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal Set To Resign Today
Arvind Kejriwal seems to have rewarded Atishi Singh for her loyalty towards the party and towards him. Also, she is considered a less risky candidate and more of a confidante to him. However, taking a look at the previous political scenarios, even confidantes have turned into rebels when asked to return the throne. Atishi as of now is basking in the glory of her new designation, she definitely was the safest choice for Kejriwal if not Sunita. Only time will answer if this decision by Kejriwal was a gamble or a safe play.
