Atishi to shoulder AAP's responsibilities until Kejriwal returns with majority: Gopal Rai

File Pic/PTI

In hopes for early elections in Delhi, AAP leader Gopal Rai on Tuesday said that Atishi would carry the responsibilities of the Chief Minister till Arvind Kejriwal is elected by the people with a "thumping" majority as reported by ANI

According to ANI, Rai while addressing a press conference said, "When he (Arvind Kejriwal) decided to resign, legislative party meeting was held today. In the meeting, it was unanimously decided that until the next elections, that we want to be held in October-November at the earliest, and people make Arvind Kejriwal the Delhi CM with a thumping majority, Atishi would carry out the responsibilities as the new CM."

"Atishi has been given two responsibilities by the MLAs here. The first is to continue the work despite hindrances by the BJP and the other one is to save the public of Delhi from all the tactics used by the Aam Aadmi party," he added

The Delhi Chief Minister is set to give his resignation today followed by the new government taking over on the same day, in a statement given by Rai.

On Tuesday, Arvind Kejriwal in a meeting of AAP party MLAs proposed the name of Atishi to be his successor.

ANI sources told the news agency that while addressing a legislature party meeting at his residence in the national capital, Kejriwal proposed and the MLAs have supported him.

According to ANI, the Delhi government minister Kailash Gehlot who was also seen as a potential candidate for taking over the CM seat said to the press, "Everyone unanimously agreed on Atishi's name".

On Saturday, Kejriwal announced his resignation and claimed he would not resume as the CM until the people of Delhi declared him "honest." He has also called for advancing polls in Delhi to be rescheduled to November this year instead of February

Kejriwal in another statement cited by ANI stated that if re-elected by the public, it would serve as a "certificate" of his honesty, adding to push for early elections, alongside Maharashtra.

The announcement by the AAP leader came two days after he was released from the Tihar jail on bail, jailed due to a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam.