Young Faces Vs Old Guard For AAP 3.0

Atishi, Raghav in the running, but seniors have political cloutRamlila oath gala on Sunday, party may not invite big netas

- Gulam Jeelani and Ashutosh Mishra

As per article 239AA of the indian constitution, which grants special status to the national capital territory of Delhi, the number of ministers cannot exceed 10% of the assembly’s 70 seats. So the new government can have a maximum of seven ministers, including the CM.

And this is where lay Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal’s first big challenge — choosing the best six from a long list of MLAs that includes the ministers in his previous government and the first-timers like Atishi, Raghav Chadha and Dilip Pandey.

AAP won a staggering 62 seats in the Delhi elections whose results were announced on Tuesday. BJP won eight seats, while Congress drew a blank for the second successive time. AAP grappled with this ‘problem of plenty’ even in 2015 when its 67 candidates won.

The AAP chief, who will be sworn in as Delhi’s CM at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, has two choices — go with the old guard or induct some young faces.

In AAP’s previous term, Atishi assisted then Education Minister Manish Sisodia in his revamp of government schools.

Chadha is a national spokesperson who has also helped the party on financial issues. Atishi has won from Kalkaji and Chadha from Rajinder Nagar.