Atishi, the sole woman in the six-member Delhi Cabinet, has been given additional charge of the Finance, Revenue, and Planning departments in the Delhi government. With this appointment, Atishi now holds the highest number of portfolios among her cabinet colleagues, further solidifying her role as a key decision-maker in the administration.

According to officials at Raj Niwas, Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena approved Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal to assign Atishi the additional responsibilities. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has alleged that the L-G had been withholding the reshuffling of portfolios for the past four days. 

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Following the notification, Atishi will oversee an impressive total of 12 portfolios, making her the minister with the highest number of responsibilities in the seven-member Delhi Cabinet. This reshuffle also places her just below Chief Minister Kejriwal in terms of cabinet hierarchy, highlighting the trust and confidence placed in her abilities.

Apart from Finance and Revenue, Atishi already holds significant departments such as Public Works, Education, and Power. This expanded role is seen as a strategic move by senior party leaders to address the delays in clearing essential files related to finance and revenue, including those concerning the disbursement of salaries to civil defence volunteers.

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It is worth noting that Atishi’s rise within the party has been remarkable. She was appointed as an adviser to former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in 2015, a position she held for three years. However, her tenure was cut short after the Ministry of Home Affairs raised objections to the appointment of 10 advisers, citing procedural irregularities.

Undeterred by the setback, Atishi emerged as a strong candidate and contested the 2019 general elections as the Aam Aadmi Party’s representative from East Delhi. Although she lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, her commitment to public service remained unshaken. A year later, she secured victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, winning the Kalkaji constituency.

The Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised questions about the cabinet reshuffle, expressing surprise over the exclusion of senior ministers such as Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, and Imran Hussain in favor of Atishi, whom they referred to as the “junior-most minister.”

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva further alleged that the reshuffle was the result of “political pressure” exerted by Manish Sisodia in support of his “political prodigy.”

Atishi, 42, is a Delhi native who attended Springdales School and pursued her undergraduate studies in history at St. Stephen’s College. She then went on to complete her Masters in history at Oxford University as a Chevening scholar and subsequently joined Magdalen College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar.