New Delhi: BJP’s debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi chief minister on Thursday in a grand show of strength that marks the party’s return to power in the city after more than 26 years.
The ceremony at the historic Ramlila Ground was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the top BJP brass and NDA chief ministers. Gupta is Delhi’s fourth woman chief minister. The 50-year-old MLA from Shalimar Bagh is also the only woman in the NDA team of chief ministers.
Along with Gupta, Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Singh were also administered the oath of office by Lt Governor V K Saxena.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the swearing-in ceremony. Among those who attended the event were chief ministers of states ruled by the BJP and its NDA allies — Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis, Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu, Goa’s Pramod Sawant, Haryana’s Nayab Singh Saini and Meghalaya’s Conrad Sangma.
Deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Andhra Pradesh’s Pawan Kalyan were present too.
Who is Rekha Gupta?
Rekha Gupta will be the fourth woman Chief Minister of Delhi and the second woman CM from BJP after Sushma Swaraj, who briefly held the post in 1998.
A first-time MLA, Rekha Gupta won from Shalimar Bagh in the Delhi Assembly elections, defeating AAP’s Bandana Kumari by 29,595 votes, ending AAP’s decade-long hold on the constituency.
Now, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta began her political journey in 1992 with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Daulat Ram College, Delhi University. She served as pzresident of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) in 1996-97, focusing on student issues.
In 2007, she was elected as a councillor from North Pitampura, where she worked on improving libraries, parks, and swimming pools. She also launched the “Sumedha Yojana” to support economically weaker female students in higher education. As Chair of the Women Welfare and Child Development Committee, she led women’s empowerment initiatives.
Rekha Gupta has also served as general secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha in Delhi and was a member of the party’s national executive committee.
