NEW DELHI, Feb 19: The BJP has named the party’s first time member of the Delhi Assembly Rekha Gupta as the chief minister of the national capital government.
With Ms Gupta, MLA from Shalimar Bagh, the Delhi government will again be led by a woman Chief Minister. The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s legislature party on Thursday evening. Ms Gupta succeeds Aam Aadmi Party’s Atishi after the BJP ended the 10-year-rule of Arvind Kejriwal’s party in the recently concluded assembly election.
The formal announcement came from the X handle of the Delhi BJP. “Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Mrs Rekha Gupta ji on being elected the leader of the Delhi BJP Legislative Party. We have full faith that the state will progress under your leadership,” it said.
The legislators are now on way to the Lieutenant Governor’s house, where Ms Gupta will formally stake claim to form government. Sources said she will have a six-member council. All the castes and communities that supported the BJP – Jats, Baniyas, Punjabis, Poorvanchalis, Brahmins and Dalits will get representation, sources said.
“I thank BJP, and I am grateful for the blessings of all of you… I am committed to taking Delhi to new heights,” Ms Gupta told the media before proceeding to the Raj Bhavan. Coming to power in Delhi after 26 years, the BJP is planning a massive ceremony for the oath of the new government at the iconic Ramlila Maidan on Thursday.
The BJP’s last Chief Minister in Delhi was also a woman, Sushma Swaraj, who was in the top post for 52 days in 1998. She was succeeded by the Congress’s Sheila Dikshit, who headed the Congress government in the national capital for three full terms.
Among the first to congratulate the Chief Minister elect today was Atishi, who offered to help if needed.
“I extend my hearty congratulations and best wishes to Mrs @gupta_rekha ji on being elected the leader of the BJP Legislative Party. I have full faith that you will work with dedication in the direction of the resolution taken by Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji to make Delhi one of the top capitals of the world. I am confident that the BJP government under your leadership will work day and night to fulfill the hopes and expectations with which the mothers and sisters of Delhi have blessed the BJP,” said the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a post on X.
Ms Gupta started her political journey as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, becoming the president and general secretary of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). She has served as the general secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha in Delhi, a member of the party’s national executive committee, and then councillor from North Pitampura in 2007. Later she served as the mayor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
(Manas Dasgupta)
