AAP to announce new Delhi CM at 12 noon today after legislative party meeting

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will announce its new Chief Minister for Delhi at 12 noon after its legislative party meeting today (September 17), ANI reported.

The meeting will take place at the Chief Minister's residence at 11 am, as per an ANI report.

This comes as AAP convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is set to resign from the post today. He will meet Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at 4:30 pm today to submit his resignation.

Who will be the next Delhi CM?

While there is no one prominent name, discussions saw several MLAs from the reserved category and minority community being considered.

“Nothing is decided as yet. However, there is speculation that AAP may project some Dalit or Muslim legislator to hold the chief minister's post in view of the assembly polls,” AAP insiders told PTI.

On September 15, Kejriwal announced that he would resign as Delhi CM and would not assume the post until the people declared him “honest.” He has also called for advancing polls in the national capital to November 2024, ahead of the scheduled February 2024 assembly elections.

Names Being Speculated

There are 12 reserved constituencies and nearly half a dozen seats with significant minority populations in the city. Mangolpuri MLA Rakhi Birla, who is also the deputy speaker in the assembly, and Kondli legislator Kuldeep Kumar are potential candidates, they added.

The AAP sources told PTI that the surprise candidate could also be a member of the minority community as the party has witnessed its support among the community wavering since the 2020 Delhi riots.

In such a scenario, Delhi minister Imran Hussain may be the surprise face, they added.

Meanwhile, AAP leader Sandeep Pathak said that the next Chief Minister of Delhi will be decided within the next 1-2 days. “A legislative party meeting will select one... Arvind Kejriwal is not drawn to power; he values his honour the most,” he added.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)