Atishi Marlena Singh, who is the Education Minister of Delhi, is now the Chief Minister. Representing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Atishi played a pivotal role after the arrest of now-former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in an excise policy-linked corruption case.
Atishi was a history student at St Stephen's College, Delhi University (DU). Thereafter, she pursued her first Master's degree at Oxford University on a Chevening scholarship. She returned to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
As per reports, Atishi hails from an academic family in Delhi, with her parents, Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi, both professors at Delhi University.
Member of the Legislative (MLA) from Delhi's Kalkaji Assembly constituency, Atishi will be the third woman to hold the top post in the national capital after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit. Additionally, she will also become the second woman CM in India in the current times, after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Atishi was known for playing a key role in revamping the state of education in government-run schools by serving as an advisor to the then-education minister Manish Sisodia in 2018. She was appreciated for initiating the Happiness Curriculum in schools.
Addressing her first press meeting as the chief minister, she said, "I will work with one goal for the next few months to bring back Kejriwal to the chief minister's post. I will work as chief minister under Arvind Kejriwal's guidance and protect the people of Delhi....A first-time politician can only get such opportunities in AAP. Had I been in some other party, I wouldn't even have got a ticket to contest polls," she added saying, "I am happy, yet I am extremely sad that my elder brother is tendering his resignation today."
The only woman in Delhi's cabinet, Atishi, holds 14 portfolios including:
Finance
Water
Education
Public Works Department
Power
Revenue
Planning
Services
Law
Justice
Information and Publicity
Vigilance
