The late Sushma Swaraj, the final BJP leader to serve as Delhi’s chief minister, will be replaced by Rekha Gupta, a first-time Shalimar Bagh MLA and the party’s second female chief minister.
New Delhi: Just hours before the oath ceremony, President Droupadi Murmu’s office announced Thursday morning that Parvesh Singh Verma and Kapil Mishra would be members of the new seven-member Bharatiya Janata Party cabinet for the nation’s capital, which would be led by incoming Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
In addition to appointing Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ashish Sood, Pankaj Kumar Singh, and Ravinder Indraj Singh to the cabinet, Ms. Murmu’s notifications were the first to affirm Rekha Gupta as Chief Minister.
As of yet, no portfolios have been assigned.
In a grand ceremony at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, all of the ministers will take the oath of office.
In their preparations for the event, the BJP has gone all out, inviting not only movie stars and business magnates but also the “aam aadmi,” including as farmers and autorickshaw drivers.
BJP’s ‘Aam Aadmi’ Guest List for the Delhi Oath Includes Women and Farmers
What The New Ministers Said
Accused of delivering hate speech during the 2020 Delhi communal riots, Mr. Mishra informed news agency ANI that the people had punished the previous government for “betraying the people of Delhi.”
#WATCH | BJP leader Kapil Mishra, who will take oath as a Delhi minister today, says, "… All of us will work together to implement PM Modi's vision. They (AAP) betrayed the people of Delhi, and they received their punishment through the power of vote… There will be an… pic.twitter.com/O4fuFVRKuS
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2025
He remarked, “There will be an investigation against the corruption of the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal,” following his prayer observance at the Jhandewala Devi Mandir, or temple, in Karol Bagh.
In the meantime, Mr. Sirsa expressed gratitude to BJP leader JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah for “this opportunity to work as a Delhi minister”. “It is an opportunity for all of us to work together to make Delhi beautiful once again…” he stated to ANI.
#WATCH | BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who will take oath as a Delhi minister today, says, "I thank PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Baijayant Panda and Virendraa Sachdeva. They included me in the team which has been formed to realise the vision of PM Modi for… pic.twitter.com/IHdiirdAuZ
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2025
The remaining seats were taken by the AAP, who had won 67 and 62 seats in the previous two elections.
However, with the BJP keeping its cards close to the vest, there remained confusion about who would succeed AAP’s Atishi as Chief Minister between the results announcement on February 8 and late last night. Following the party’s appointment of Ms. Gupta, speculation—of which there was much—was put to rest.
According to sources who spoke to NDTV, the delay was caused in part by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trips to France and the US, which delayed meetings of the newly elected lawmakers and the party’s Parliamentary Board, both of which were concluded yesterday.
BJP Picks Rekha Gupta
The BJP’s first chief minister of Delhi in almost thirty years will be Rekha Gupta.
The late Sushma Swaraj, the final BJP leader to serve as Delhi’s chief minister, will be replaced by Ms. Gupta, a first-time Shalimar Bagh MLA and the party’s second female chief minister.
She told NDTV this morning that she had no idea she would be chosen to lead the government when she left her house yesterday to attend the MPs’ meeting.
She claimed, “When I left home, I did not know that I would become the Chief Minister,” and that Mr. Verma had really suggested her for the position.
Since he had defeated Arvind Kejriwal to win the coveted New Delhi seat, Mr. Verma, a two-time former Lok Sabha MP and the son of another former Delhi Chief Minister, Saheb Singh Verma, was considered the front-runner for the position.
His argument appeared to be reinforced by the fact that Mr. Kejriwal and Sheila Dikshit of the Congress, two of the previous three chief ministers of Delhi, also held that position. However, the high leadership of the BJP disagreed.
Instead, the party’s emphasis on female voters in this and previous elections is highlighted by Ms. Gupta’s selection. This focus was demonstrated in the way the Congress, the AAP, and the BJP approached campaigning—making special pledges for women—even though they were defeated for the third consecutive election.
