Kejriwal’s potential resignation sparks race for next Delhi CM

New Delhi
With Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal deciding to resign from his post on Sunday, at the same time ruling out former deputy CM Manish Sisodia as his successor, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) legislative unit will now elect a new CM — very likely from sitting MLAs Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot, Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain, according to party officials, while Delhi’s political circles also floated the possibility of Sunita Kejriwal, the CM’s wife, helming the government.
Some leaders said that a Dalit leader may also be appointed the next CM, although they did not specifically name anyone.
Kejriwal said Sisodia, who is also accused in the excise scam and was incarcerated for 17 months, has also decided not to accept any political position unless elected and conferred upon by voters.
“I was talking to Manish, and he said that he would only take up the position if the public says he is honest. The decision regarding me and Sisodia is in your hands,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal’s announcement on Sunday that he will step down as Delhi CM on September 17 sent political circles into overdrive, triggering speculation on the next CM. AAP has 61 MLAs in the Delhi assembly, of whom six, including Kejriwal, are ministers.
Among the ministers, Atishi holds the highest number of portfolios, including key portfolios of education, Public Works Department, power, revenue, planning, finance, services, vigilance, water and public relations, in Kejriwal’s cabinet.
Ahead of Independence Day celebrations in Delhi, Kejriwal had written to Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena, recommending that Atishi be allowed to hoist the Tricolour at the state-level Independence Day celebrations in Delhi. Although the LG nominated home minister Kailash Gahlot to unfurl the flag, the CM’s recommendation underlines Atishi’s significance in the cabinet.
A Delhi University graduate, Atishi also holds postgraduate degrees in education and history from the University of Oxford and is also a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship. She joined AAP in 2013 and worked as an advisor to the then-education minister Manish Sisodia from July 2015 to April 2018, playing a key role in improving the infrastructure of Delhi government schools and making other interventions.
In 2020, she was elected an MLA for the first time from the Kalkaji assembly constituency and was appointed a minister in March 2023, after the then deputy CM Manish Sisodia was arrested in the excise case. Atishi comes from the Punjabi Hindu community, which is considered an influential voting bloc in the Capital.
In Delhi’s political circles, speculations were also rife that Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal may be appointed the next CM of Delhi, given that there are fewer than six months for the term of the assembly — February 11, 2025 — because the term of the assembly is scheduled to expire in fewer than six months. If a non-MLA is appointed the CM, they will not need to get elected to the assembly as there is a leeway of six months for the new appointee to be elected as a member of the house, and the assembly’s tenure is less than that.
Opposition parties claimed that the CM was resigning to make his wife his political successor, given the assembly’s tenure ends in a few months.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said: “AAP leaders are talking that Sunita Kejriwal may become the next chief minister because CM Kejriwal does not trust anyone else. In the six months that Kejriwal was in jail, Sunita Kejriwal used to meet political leaders from different parties, she used to address political rallies, meet AAP ministers and leaders at CM residence. She delivered several video addresses from CM residence using the same background that Kejriwal used. Kejriwal should have resigned in March when he was arrested. But he did not do that. Now that fewer than six months are left for the assembly elections, he has smartly decided to resign so that his wife could become the CM.”
AAP leaders, however, insisted that the next CM will most likely be from among the sitting MLAs, citing Kejriwal’s speech, in which he said: “Someone from AAP will become the next CM.”
Home minister Kailash Gahlot, one of the prominent Jat faces of the AAP in Delhi, is also among the contenders for the post of the CM. Gahlot has been working as a minister in the Kejriwal cabinet since 2015 when he was first elected an MLA from Najafgarh. He has nearly 10 years of experience as a minister in Delhi, where he has handled key portfolios, including home and transport. In 2023, when Manish Sisodia was arrested, Gahlot presented the annual budget of Delhi in the assembly.
Another key face in the state cabinet is minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, a third-time MLA from Greater Kailash. He is serving as a minister in Delhi government for the second time.
AAP minister Gopal Rai, who is also in the frame, is one of the senior-most ministers in the Delhi government, and is currently holding the portfolios of environment, development and general administration department. Rai comes from the Purvanchal community, which is an influential voting bloc, and was elected the legislator from the Babarpur constituency in 2015. He has been serving in Kejriwal’s cabinet since.
An AAP leader said that after the CM’s resignation, a meeting of the legislative party is likely to be convened for MLAs to choose the next CM.
Asked about the next CM, Atishi said: “AAP government will continue to work for the people of Delhi, will continue to provide 24X7 electricity, good education, good health care services in hospitals and mohalla clinics, will continue to offer free bus rides to women and free pilgrimage to senior citizens.”
AAP secured 62 seats in the 2020 assembly election and the BJP 8 in the 70-member Delhi assembly. AAP MLA from Patel Nagar Raaj Kumar Anand was disqualified in June after joining the BSP, and recently, AAP MLA from Chattarpur, Kartar Singh Tanwar, joined the BJP but is yet to be disqualified. Effectively, the AAP has 60 MLAs and commands a comfortable majority in the Delhi assembly.
According to the rules, the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet will be dissolved with the resignation of the CM and the new CM will induct their ministers in the new cabinet.