Atishi is Delhi CM till assembly elections: What history reveals about the 'interim CM' gambit

Arvind Kejriwal with Atishi

Arvind Kejriwal took a bold political gambit after resigning as the chief minister of Delhi and picking Atishi as his successor. If successful, the political experiment could reap rich dividends in the upcoming Delhi assembly polls. However, history indicates that opting for an "interim CM" approach does not always lead to favorable outcomes.

Moments after AAP unanimously chose Atishi to lead the government, Delhi minister and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai unequivocally said that it is a "temporary" arrangement.

Speaking to reporters, Rai said that Atishi will lead the government until the completion of the assembly polls scheduled early next year.

Atishi made an emotional appeal to the people of Delhi to re-elect Kejriwal in the next polls, asserting that "Delhi has only one Chief Minister... and that is Kejriwal."

With assembly polls around the corner, Arvind Kejriwal has taken a big gamble to cede the chief ministerial position to a young leader from the party in an effort to appeal to his core voters to repose trust in him with an overwhelming mandate.

Have such arrangements proved beneficial for political parties in the past? Two notable examples come to mind: one from Bihar and a more recent instance in Jharkhand.

When Hemant Soren was forced to resign as chief minister ahead of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31, Champai Soren was roped in as the CM. He served as the CM till the time Soren was in jail. After Hemant Soren was granted bail on June 28, the senior leader had to step down to make way for the JMM working president.

Clearly, the decision to ask Champai to step down from the chief ministerial position ahead of the assembly elections did not go down well with the veteran tribal leader.

He quit the party and joined the BJP. After joining the saffron party, Soren, once a close aide of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha founder Shibu Soren, in a letter to JMM supremo said: "I have never ever imagined in my dreams that I would quit JMM, a party which is like a family to me... The turn of events of the past forced me to take this decision with much pain...I am pained to say that the party has deviated from its principle."

Similarly, in Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi was Nitish Kumar's surprise choice to fill as Bihar CM in 2015. However, Manjhi incited a political commotion later by refusing to vacate office for his former boss Nitish Kumar. Majority of the JD(U) leaders were "not in favour" of removing Manjhi, as it would send a wrong message to the people, especially Dalits. They, however, wanted that Kumar should lead the JD(U) in the Bihar assembly polls slated later that year.

That the party stood divided over continuance of Manjhi was evident when senior party leader Ranjan Prasad Yadav was denied entry to the meeting venue by security personnel for well over 15 minutes. Ranjan was against removal of Manjhi and JD(U)’s move to merge with Lalu Prasad’s RJD.

However, the only time when such a ‘temporary’ arrangement to keep the government running without any internal glitch was when Rabri Devi, who took over as the Bihar CM after Lalu Prasad Yadav was arrested in the fodder scam. Rabri Devi started her political journey by making announcements on behalf of Lalu Yadav and eventually became the Bihar CM.