New Delhi, Feb 20: Rekha Gupta took oath as the Delhi Chief Minister at the grand swearing-in ceremony at the city’s Ramlila Maidan on Thursday. The ceremony which marked the return of BJP to power after a gap of 27 years, saw the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with many Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled states.
As the national Capital got its fourth woman Chief Minister, this also marked a show of strength for the NDA alliance as they all reached Delhi for participating in the ceremony. Rekha Gupta is the fourth woman Chief Minister of Delhi after Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj and Atishi.
She is also the fourth BJP chief minister in the capital, after Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj. Rekha Gupta’s Cabinet is likely to have six ministers. Along with Rekha Gupta, other BJP MLAs who took oath included Parvesh Singh Verma, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Kumar Singh.
Parvesh Singh Verma emerged as the giant slayer in Delhi elections as he trounced former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP’s National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal by a margin of over 3,000 votes. Earlier, Rekha Gupta was invited by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to form the new government as she staked claim for government formation on Wednesday evening.
She won the Shalimar Bagh seat, defeating AAP’s Bandana Kumari by over 29,000 votes in the Assembly elections. According to reports, Rekha Gupta’s Cabinet is likely to hold its first meeting at Delhi Secretariat around 3 pm and could implement the Mahila Samriddhi Yojna, the poll pledge under which women beneficiaries will get monthly payment of Rs 2,500. The Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme is also likely to get the green signal from the new Delhi Cabinet.
IANS