Ending two weeks of suspense, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday announced first-time MLA Rekha Gupta (50) as its pick as the Delhi Chief Minister. New Delhi MLA Parvesh Verma is set to be sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister. The decision came after a meeting of the Delhi BJP legislature party where the party’s 48 newly-elected legislators unanimously chose Shalimar Bagh MLA Rekha Gupta as their new leader.
Earlier today, the parliamentary board of the BJP met at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in Delhi and appointed senior party leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and OP Dhankar as central observers to oversee the entire selection process.
The development clears the decks for Gupta to be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Delhi at a star-studded ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan at 12.35 PM on Thursday. The ceremony will be attended by top leaders of the BJP, including PM Modi, BJP president JP Nadda, senior Union ministers such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and others and leading personalities from business and culture.
The legislature party of the BJP met at 7 PM at the office of its Delhi unit in the capital and chose Rekha Gupta as their leader.
The swearing-in on Thursday will usher in a BJP government in Delhi after a 27-year hiatus. Sushma Swaraj was the last chief minister of the BJP in Delhi in 1998. Her government lasted only 69 days.
The new government that takes oath on Thursday has its task clearly cut out. The BJP made a slew of promises in the run-up to the elections and meeting these commitments should feature on top of their agenda.
Among the BJP’s biggest election promises was the disbursement of Rs 2,500 for eligible women beneficiaries by March 8. “We have pledged to give Rs 2,500 to our sisters … this guarantee will be completed because it is Modi’s guarantee … you will see that the BJP government will be formed In Delhi and on March 8, International Women’s Day … they (women) will start getting money in their accounts,” PM Modi had said in one of his campaign speeches.
Infrastructure upgrade and cleaning of the Yamuna river will also feature among the list of priorities for the new BJP government in the capital. Having made tall promises and promised to deliver the governance Delhi deserves, every move by the new government will be watched very closely.