Gupta was sworn in as Delhi’s Chief Minister in a grand show of strength at Ramlila Maidan
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated BJP legislator Rekha Gupta on being sworn in as Delhi’s fourth woman Chief Minister and expressed confidence that she “will work for Delhi’s development”. In a post on X, Modi said, “Congratulations to Rekha Gupta Ji on taking oath as Delhi’s Chief Minister. She has risen from the grassroots, being active in campus politics, state organisation, municipal administration and now MLA as well as Chief Minister. I am confident she will work for Delhi’s development with full vigour. My best wishes to her for a fruitful tenure.”
Debutant BJP legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi’s Chief Minister in a grand show of strength at Ramlila Maidan that marked the party’s return to power after nearly three decades in the national capital. Along with Gupta, Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra, Ravinder Indraj Singh and Pankaj Singh were administered the oath of office as Cabinet ministers by lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena.
On the team of ministers, the Prime Minister said, “This team beautifully mixes vigour and experience, and will surely ensure good governance for Delhi. Best wishes to them.”
All the ministers took the oath in Hindi, except for Sirsa who chose his mother tongue Punjabi. The high-profile ceremony at the historic Ramlila Maidan was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top BJP brass and several NDA leaders.
Amidst the roar of “Modi, Modi” and “BJP Zindabad”, the Chief Minister, before taking the oath, asserted that her government “will leave no stone unturned” in fulfilling the BJP’s promise of providing `2,500 monthly assistance to eligible women. Gupta declared: “The first installment of the monthly assistance will be credited to eligible women’s accounts by International Women’s Day on March 8.” And then she made it clear that AAP “will be made accountable for every penny of wasteful expenditure during its 10-year misrule”. Gupta added that “fulfilling the dream of Prime Minister is the responsibility of all 48 BJP MLAs in the capital”.
By putting Gupta in the top post, the BJP not merely tried to provide a balanced mix of caste, gender and political ideology but also tried to consolidate and capitalise into the growing influence of women voters.
In the recent Delhi Assembly polls, women voters’ turnout was 60.92 per cent, compared to 60.21 per cent for men. Sources said Gupta’s long association with the RSS and ABVP, coupled with her clean image, played a significant role in tipping the balance in her favour.
In a strong display of unity and solidarity within the NDA-led by the BJP, the mega swearing-in-ceremony was attended by several Chief Ministers from states ruled by NDA allies. The Chief Ministers who attended included Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis, Andhra Pradesh’s N. Chandrababu Naidu, Pramod Sawant from Goa, Haryana’s Nayab Singh Saini, Mohan Yadav from Madhya Pradesh, Bhajan Lal Sharma from Rajasthan and Meghalaya’s Conrad Sangma.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Andhra Pradesh’s Pawan Kalyan were also present. Other BJP heavyweights who were present included Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, BJP chief J.P. Nadda, Hardeep Puri and Dharmendra Pradhan.
