1st time BJP MLA Rekha Gupta to be new Delhi CM, to take oath on Thursday at grand ceremony at Ramlila ground

Public Lokpal
February 20, 2025

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1st time BJP MLA Rekha Gupta to be new Delhi CM, to take oath on Thursday at grand ceremony at Ramlila ground

NEW DELHI: First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the BJP returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.

Gupta, 50, was chosen as the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly at the BJP legislature party meeting late evening here, senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad, who along with OP Dhankar was appointed as the party's two central observers, announced on Wednesday.

Gupta, accompanied by Prasad, Dhankar and Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva among others, met Lt Governor VK Saxena and staked claim to form the government.

Late in the night, a post of the LG on X said he has accepted the claim by Gupta and invited her to form the new government.

Gupta, who won from Shalimar Bagh defeating AAP candidate Bandana Kumari by over 29,000 votes and was among the frontrunners for the chief ministership, will take the oath of office at a grand ceremony at the Ramlila ground on Thursday. She is set to become the fourth woman chief minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj(BJP), Sheila Dikshit(Congress) and Atishi(AAP).

Around 50,000 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues and the chief ministers of NDA-ruled states among others, are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.

The selection of Gupta, who will be the only woman chief minister among the states being ruled by the BJP or in coalition with its allies at present, is being seen as efforts by the BJP to send a message to its women voter base. Gupta will now be the second woman chief minister in the country after TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal).

Though the Law graduate from Delhi University with strong RSS roots is making her debut in the Assembly, Gupta, who hails from the Baniya community, entered politics as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member in 1992. Born in Haryana's Julana, she has a 32-year association with the RSS and is a former Delhi civic councillor.

All the 48 newly-elected BJP MLAs attended the legislature party meeting in the presence of Prasad and Dhankar. Gupta's name was proposed by senior party leaders Parvesh Verma, Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay.

Verma, son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma who defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, was among the strong contenders for the top post. The Delhi Assembly poll results were declared on February 8.

There was no official word from the party whether there would be a deputy chief minister in the BJP government. However, party sources said that in the Cabinet, representation will be given to all communities. Delhi can have a maximum of seven ministers including the CM.

Sources said that besides Parvesh Verma, the others who could get a ministerial berth were Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Pankaj Singh, Ravinder Singh Indraj and Kapil Mishra.

Soon after the announcement of her election, Gupta thanked Prime Minister Modi and said she would work with full honesty, integrity and dedication for the welfare, empowerment and overall development of every citizen of Delhi.

The BJP won 48 out of the 70 assembly seats while the AAP got 22 seats and the Congress drew a blank in the just concluded elections.

Gupta, a former president of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) and who is actively engaged with women-related matters, is also the national vice president of BJP Mahila Morcha and a member of the party's national executive.

More than 25,000 security personnel will be deployed in the central, north, and New Delhi areas of the city for the oath-taking ceremony.

Rekha is married to Manish Gupta, a businessman. The couple has two children--a daughter who lives in Australia and a son who is studying in Vellore in Tamil Nadu.

Vasundhara Raje Scindia was the last woman chief minister from the BJP. She was the CM of Rajasthan for two terms, from 2003 to 2008 and then again from 2013 to 2018.

PTI