PTI
New Delhi
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, the BJP announced on Wednesday.
She was chosen as the leader of the House in the Delhi assembly at the BJP legislature party meeting. The party has returned to power in Delhi after over 26 years, ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
Accompanied by BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, OP Dhankar, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and others, Gupta (50) later met Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and staked claim to form a government.
She and her cabinet ministers will take the oath of office at the Ramlila Ground on Thursday. She will be the fourth woman chief minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit and Atishi.
There was no official word from the party whether there would be a deputy chief minister in the BJP government. Party sources said representation will be given to all communities in the Delhi cabinet.
Gupta defeated AAP candidate Bandana Kumari in the Shalimar Bagh seat by a margin of more than 29,000 votes in the February 5 assembly polls.
All 48 newly elected BJP MLAs attended the legislature party meeting held in the presence of central observers Ravi Shankar Prasad and OP Dhankar.
Gupta’s name was proposed by senior party leaders Parvesh Verma, Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay.
The announcement came 11 days after the results of the Delhi assembly polls were declared on February 8.
Soon after the announcement, Gupta thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said she would work with full honesty, integrity and dedication for the welfare, empowerment and overall development of every resident of Delhi.
“I am fully committed to this important opportunity to take Delhi to new heights,” Gupta said in a post on X.
“I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the top leadership for trusting me and entrusting me with the responsibility of the post of chief minister. This trust and support of yours has given me new energy and inspiration.”
In the recent assembly polls, the BJP won 48 out of the 70 assembly seats while the AAP got 22 seats and the Congress drew a blank.
Gupta is a former president of the Delhi University Students’ Union and a former councillor.
Born in Haryana’s Julana, she is a BCom graduate from Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College. She later earned a law degree from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, and also practised as an advocate.
